Assays

Compounded preparations made by our students are routinely analyzed for the API concentration or amount using HPLC or spectrophotometric linearity methods. Student preparations are expected to be ± 10% of label. If the API concentration or amount is outside of this range, the student has the option to re-do their preparation. The assays used in the lab have been developed by the course instructor and are given in this section. We also have included a discussion on the linearity of standard curves using some examples from the laboratory experiments.

UV/VIS  HPLC  Standards

Excipients Used In Pharmaceutical Compounding

Preparations require excipients to impart a variety of properties to the compounded dosage form. From the compounder’s viewpoint, it is prudent to understand the role of each ingredient in the completed preparation. Many times this insight may alert the compounder to potential instabilities that might occur, clues about the preparation’s performance that would be useful/necessary to share with the patient, or provide alternatives if the preparation is not suitable for a patient due to allergies, preferences, etc. Also, excipients have different roles in different preparations, or oftentimes an excipient will play more than one role in a preparation.

Excipients

Lab Data

Student preparations provide a wealth of insightful and informational data in compounding procedures and operations. Some of the information points the direction to new resesarch that may identify parameters that vary from compounder to compounder. Other data may show limits in devices, procedures, or stability. Several examples of the laboratory data collected from our students are highlighted here.

Lab Data

Published Literature

The laboratory provides a research environment for students and faculty to explore issues in contemporary compounding. There are three years of professional stduents that utilize the lab per week. This affords the opportunity to investigate variations/permutations in compounding techniques and methods, and provides a rich source of data. Many of these investigations lead to publications in pharmacy education journals, and a list of such publications are listed. A pdf file of the publication is accessible at the end of each abstract.

Literature