Neighbourhood Pharmacies supports NAPRA’s objective of modernizing and streamlining compounding standards so that compounding practices across Canada can both meet and improve patient safety, product quality, and professional accountability.
However, ensuring that the final standards remain proportionate to the level of risk associated with different types of compounding activities will be important to maintaining patient access to necessary compounded medications. The proposed standards will introduce new operational demands for pharmacies of all sizes, including those operating large-scale compounding facilities as well as smaller organizations performing limited compounding activities. These demands may include infrastructure modifications, financial investments, expanded administrative requirements, and increased staff time devoted to compliance activities rather than patient care and medication management.
We believe these changes may create challenges for some pharmacies seeking to maintain compounding services in a manner that meets the proposed standards, lead pharmacies to reduce or discontinue some compounding activities, which could have implications for patient access to these important medications.
Read our specific recommendations and general considerations to mitigate these challenges in our submission below.