AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas State Board of Pharmacy will create a task force to look at how compounding pharmacies operate.
Compounding pharmacies are pharmacies that mix and tailor their own drugs for a patient.
Sterile compounding pharmacies tailor drugs for sterile drugs like injections, infusions and eye drops. Pharmacies making sterile compounded drugs have tighter regulations in Texas.
Non-sterile compounded drugs are things like creams, powders and pills. They are usually drugs in a digestible form.
Right now, non-sterile compounding pharmacies are held to the same standard as any traditional pharmacy. There is no specific regulation regarding how non-sterile compounding drugs operate.
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On Tuesday, the pharmacy board voted to create a task force to come up with specific regulations for non-sterile compounding pharmacies, training for inspectors and be a resource for the board.
“It’s just another way the public will be protected and ensure that the pharmacies that are doing compounding are doing it in a safe and appropriate way,” said Allison Benz, executive director and secretary for the Texas State Board of Pharmacy.
Last year, the KVUE Defenders showed how an improper compound left one woman in a medically induced coma, and how another left a golf ball-sized hole in a woman’s arm.
The investigations revealed it can take years for the State to investigate and issue any enforcement against a pharmacy.
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