Lucy Malmberg elected to board of International Academy of Compounding Pharmacists

(Swedesboro NJ, January 11, 2010) Lucy Malmberg, R.Ph., F.A.C.A., F.A.C.V.P., executive vice president and corporate secretary/treasurer of Wedgewood Pharmacy, has been elected to the board of directors of the International Academy of Compounding Pharmacists (IACP) for a three-year term that began January 1. She will represent the organization’s members in 12 states from Maine to Washington DC.

IACP is an association that represents more than 2,000 pharmacists and technicians who focus on the specialty practice of pharmacy compounding, which provides personalized medications for the millions of patients whose unique healthcare needs cannot be met by off-the-shelf prescription medications.

Malmberg is a registered pharmacist in Pennsylvania and Delaware. As co-founder of Wedgewood Pharmacy, she has been instrumental in transforming the company from a strip-mall pharmacy purchased in 1981 into a specialized compounding pharmacy that is now one of the largest in the United States, serving more than 25,000 human- and animal-health prescribers and their patients nationwide.

Rod Shafer, R.Ph., CEO of IACP said, “Lucy was a leader in the industry coalition that, in 2002, argued successfully before the Supreme Court that the Food and Drug Modernization Act of 1997 (FDAMA), which prohibited pharmacists from advertising or promoting compounded drugs, was a violation of their First Amendment rights. All of us are eager to benefit from her experience and her unique passion, as our profession continues to protect, promote and advance the art and science of pharmacy compounding.”

In 2005 Malmberg also was instrumental in forming IACP’s public affairs task force, which created an advocacy program centered around Patients and Professionals for Customized Care (P2C2), a Web site that provides tools and information for advocates of compounding pharmacy to influence public policy.

Established in 1980, Wedgewood Pharmacy is one of the largest compounding pharmacies in the United States, providing more than 25,000 prescribers with compounds for their human and veterinary patients. It is located in Swedesboro NJ and licensed throughout the United States.

A compounding pharmacy creates customized medications for individual patients in response to a licensed practitioner’s prescription. Because every patient is different and has different needs, customized, compounded medications are a vital part of quality medical care.

The basis of the profession of pharmacy has always been the "triad," the patient-physician-pharmacist relationship. Compounding is extremely important to the veterinary community, which often requires more flavors, dosages and potency levels than commercially available medications supply.

Through this relationship, patient needs are determined by a doctor, who chooses a treatment regimen that may include a compounded medication. Physicians and veterinarians often prescribe compounded medications for reasons that include (but are not limited to) the following situations:

• When needed medications are discontinued by or generally unavailable from pharmaceutical companies, often because the medications are no longer profitable to manufacture

• When the patient is allergic to certain preservatives, dyes or binders in available off-the shelf medications

• When treatment requires tailored dosage strengths for patients with unique needs (for example, an infant)

• When a pharmacist can combine several medications the patient is taking to increase compliance

• When the patient cannot ingest the medication in its commercially available form and a pharmacist can prepare the medication in cream, liquid or other form that the patient can easily take

• When medications require flavor additives to make them more palatable for some patients, most often children and pets

For additional information, visit the International Academy of Compounding Pharmacists’ Web site at IACPRx.org and CompoundingFacts.org.