Quality Control
We are a compounding only pharmacy which means we specialise solely in compounding. We do so in order to concentrate our attention on compounding and thus not be distracted by traditional retail pharmacy. A primary concern and focus for us is quality control in order to provide pharmaceutical quality medications. This involves being equipped with modern state of the art pharmaceutical equipment in conjunction with tight quality control proceedures.
Our specialized compounding laboratory is a clean environment equipped with an array of speciality equipment. We have a GERMFREE ISO Class 5 sterile laminar flow Barrier Isolator for the production of sterile injections which provides a more sterile environment than most sterile clean rooms.
Our lab is also equipped with an Airclean isolation cabinet which contains a HEPTA filter for the removal of airborne particles down to 0.3 microns. This enables us to produce dust and particulate free capsules, creams and lozenges and also prevent cross contamination of powders.
Our laboratory will only use the purist pharmaceutical grade raw materials available. Most ingredients used in our laboratory are obtained from the same suppliers that supply the pharmaceutical industry and each ingredient obtained is accompanied with a certificate of analysis to prove that it was analysed prior to purchase and that its quality was found to comply with pharmaceutical grade standards.
Our laboratory is equipped with several FCC approved computerized electronic analytical balances that are capable of measuring down to the nearest milligram. This ensures that all the raw ingredients used to make your medication are accurately weighed out. The weight of each ingredient used to produce your medication is then recorded for future reference.
Once accurately weighed all ingredients used to produce creams are then mixed using our pharmaceutical grade computerised cream homogeniser. This specialised mixer is used for the production of pharmaceutical grade creams with a consistent and uniform distribution of medication throughout the entire cream without any “empty spots” or “dense spots” that can occur with other types of mixers, or if mixed by hand.
All accurately weighed powders used to make capsules are blended by our Turbula Shaker-Mixer. This mixer utilises three dimensional reverse kinematics to blend any combination of powders, of various particle sizes, into a homogenous powdered mixture of uniform consistency. It does so without the generation of any heat thus protecting all ingredients for heat decomposition which is a major problem with blade type blenders. This type of mixer is currently considered one of the most effective mixers available by the pharmaceutical industry and is considered essential for accurately mixing powders especially those containing low doses of medication such as thyroid hormones.
Once all powders are mixed appropriately they are then encapsulated using one of our pharmaceutical grade capsule machines which are GMP, USP and BP compliant capable of filling powder weights within 1-3% variation. We have an automated electronic capsule counter to count capsules to ensure the number of capsules packaged is accurate.
Our laboratory is also equipped with a 4 stage reverse osmosis water purifier ensuring all preparations which contain water are contaminant free.
Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) have been developed for every aspect of preparing your medication. From how to effectively clean the glassware used to produce your medication, to checking our packaging to ensure they all meet our high standards. This in combination with several double checking procedures ensures every step in the production process is tightly controlled so there is little room for human error.
Our laboratory also uses specialised compounding software which allows us to deligate lot numbers to every item produced by our laboratory. These lot numbers are then matched to a unique production record so we can check (at any time) to see exactly what ingredients went into your medication and exactly how much of each ingredient (to the nearest milligram). This allows us to double check every product in order to ensure they all meet our high standards and to minimise any mistakes being made.
Finally the training and experience of the compounding pharmacist is also paramount to be able to competently supply pharmaceutical quality products. Our chief compounding pharmacist, Dr Michael Serafin, is a highly qualified compounding chemist with a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Chemistry from Sydney University. He has been involved with retail compounding since 2000 and previously having worked for Sydney University teaching compounding theory and practice to pharmacy students while being involved with pharmaceutical research and development. His extensive experience and expertise ensures the highest quality of our formulas and products supplied by our laboratory.
The use of sophisticated compounding equipment in a clean, environment controlled, laboratory ensures the highest standards are maintained resulting with high quality products.
By adhering to set protocols and many regulations you can be assured of the quality of medication produced by Complementary Compounding Services. If you are currently obtaining your compounded medication elsewhere you should check to see if they too fulfil this quality checklist.
When chosing which compounding pharmacy you should trust to prepare your medication you should consider all the factors mentioned above.
