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In veterinary medicine, when licensed products are not available, compounding can be an important tool for meeting therapeutic needs in animals, especially considering the wide range of species that veterinarians treat.
Compounded drugs are a combination of two or more ingredients, where at least one of these is a drug or a pharmacologically active component, to create a final product that is specific to an individual prescription issued by a veterinarian for the treatment of a specific animal health condition. Compounding is intended to be used when there are no other commercially available options for a specific patient or herd/flock. It is considered extra label drug use (ELDU).
In Canada, compounding of drugs is practised primarily by pharmacists as an integral part of their profession and is regulated by the regulatory authorities in each province/territory.
Because the prescribing veterinarian is responsible for the increased risk associated with the use of these products, including adverse reactions, CAHI partnered with the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association and other provincial veterinary medical associations to create a decision tree to support the safe use of compounded products.
