The History Of Phamaceutical Compounding

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Term Paper Title	The History Of Phamaceutical Compounding
# of Words	3884
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	15.54

The History of Phamaceutical Compounding

The profession of pharmacy was founded in the art and science of compounding
medications. The beginning of compounding dates back to medieval times with priests,
monks, and medicine men. Specialization first occurred in the early 9th century in the
civilized world around Baghdad. Over time it gradually spread to Europe as alchemy
evolved into chemistry as doctors began to abandon beliefs that were not demonstrable in
the physical world. During this time, doctors began prescribing medications to patients.
Pharmacists then began compounding these prescriptions and producing them in mass
quantities for general sale. It was not until the 19th century that there was a distinct
difference between the pharmacist as a compounder of medications and the physician as
the therapist.

In the 1930’s and 1940’s, approximately 60 percent of all medications dispensed were
compounded. Then in the 1950s and 1960s, with the creation of commercial drug
manufacturers, compounding declined. It was during this time that a pharmacist, known as
a compounder or apothecary, became known as a dispenser of manufactured drugs. In the
1980’s and now in the 1990’s, patients and doctors are realizing the need for specific
doses and customized medications. Today, almost 43,000 compounded dosage forms are
dispensed each day. In the 1990’s, even with the popularity of compounding growing
again only a few pharmacists can be known as a compounder or apothecary, because this
technique was forgotten by most.

The Evolution of the Word "Pharmacy"

It is from this evolution of a pharmacist being the maker and compounder of
medications that the word pharmacy is defined. The word pharmacy is defined as "the art
of preparing and dispensing drugs or a place where drugs are sold; a drugstore." The word
pharmacy originates from the Greek word pharmakon or remedy. There has
been some arguments that the word pharmacy came from the Egyptian term
ph-ar-maki or the bestower of security, which the god Thoth, patron of physicians,
conferred as approbation on a ferryman who had managed a safe crossing. However, the
word pharmacy and its many cognates derived, like many of the other scientific terms,
most likely originates from the Greeks.

It is impossible to put a exact date when the word pharmacy originated since people were
practicing medicine before the word even existed. Priests and Doctors in the medieval
times were combining different ingre...

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