Compounding 101 - What is Sterile Compounding?

Did you know there is compounding and there is sterile compounding? We do both at Designer Drugs. And Taylor Ashton explains the difference and what sterile compounding actually is. There aren’t many compounding pharmacies around that have their own onsite Clean Room. Next time you visit our boutique you can take a peek into our sterile Clean Room and see our fully-garbed techs hard at work!

Sterile compounding is compounding where the drug is intended to be injected into the body or used in the eye or inhaled. It's more risky than non-sterile compounding. Non-sterile compounding is like a cream. You're going to put it on your skin, just like you would a lotion that you can buy at Target, that’s very low risk. Sterile compounding is anything that's going to be placed in a vulnerable spot. Anything that's going to be injected into your body, obviously you want it to be absolutely sterile.

When sterile compounding, we take bulk powders and mix them together in the lab. We take them into a facility called a Clean Room and we sterilize them so that they are safe to be injected. We also take those medications, each individual lot or batch that is made and we sterility test them in house. So anything that you are getting that is made sterilely is also going to be tested.

TAYLOR ASHTON joined our team as a pharmacist in 2017. She works predominantly in the compounding lab, ensuring we are compliant with best-practice guidelines. Originally from Chattanooga, Taylor attended Baylor before earning her PharmD from St. Louis College of Pharmacy. (Go Blues and Cardinals!) She is a newlywed with four dogs, and she also enjoys spending time with her mom, dad, and niece, and watching "Jeopardy.”