Pharmacy Compounding Categories

Compounding is the act of combining, mixing, or altering ingredients to prepare a medication tailored to the needs of an individual patient (paediatric/geriatrics especially). It must be noted that compounded drugs are not FDA-approved.

There are different types of compounded preparations with varying guidelines for each. For more information click here.

Categories of Compounding

As per the United States Pharmacopeia <29>, there are different compounding categories and they are intended to guide compounding operators or technicians when the different forms are prepared. Each of these categories correspond to a separate training required to be undertaken by the operators before they will be allowed to prepare such products.

Figure 1. Categories of Compounding as per USP <29>.