Grove Pharmacy relocates compounding facility

When Dr. Jose Dominguez, a colorectal specialist at Ferrell-Duncan Clinic, treats his patients, he often prescribes medication not normally found commercially. In those cases, he turns to Grove Pharmacy's compounding division, which creates customized prescriptions - rather than commercially pre-made pills, medicines and ointments.

"There's a couple of different topical medications used for treatment of common anal and rectal problems that have to be compounded or the drug simply isn't an option," Dominguez said, noting that he uses Grove's services several times a week. "If I didn't have one of these medicines available, I'd have to take patients to surgery more often."

Special medicine

Grove Pharmacy has had a compounding license and dedicated space for compounding since 1995, but with the June opening of its new facility at 3050 S. National Ave., the company has dramatically increased its ability to perform compounding work.

The South National pharmacy has a retail side as well as the compounding operations.

Manager Whitney Grove, son of owner Gary Grove, said being able to individualize prescriptions is useful in a number of different situations. Applications range from lotions or liquids for patients who are unable to swallow pills to more localized topical pain treatment to flavored medicines for finicky children - or pets, as Grove Pharmacy also will work with veterinarians.

"Basically, if a person or animal needs a particular medication, and it's not available to them for whatever reason, we can offer a way to make it available to them," Whitney Grove said.

Gary Grove spent more than $500,000 on infill for the company's new space in the Montclair Centre, which creates 2,000 square feet of compounding space compared to just 200 square feet at the former compounding facility in Grove Pharmacy's East Sunshine Street location. Grove Pharmacy continues to operate retail pharmacies at 1522 E. Sunshine St., as well as inside Ferrell-Duncan Clinic on East Primrose Street.

Patients can purchase compounded medications at all Grove locations, but all compounding work is done at the South National facility.

Included in the compounding facility is a clean room, used to put together topical medicines as well as injections and eye medicines. All of those medicines must be sterile because they bypass the normal filtration systems in the digestive system.

"In a cubic foot of air, a normal office environment has several million particles of half a micron or larger," said Whitney Grove, who noted that the air in the clean room is evacuated nearly 50 times a minute. "Dust, dirt, bacteria, germs, skin - there's stuff floating around that you don't want in your lungs. If you go injecting that into your body or inhaling it, rubbing it into your skin, you're putting that directly into your bloodstream."

Gary Grove notes that the compounding process his company uses starts with the raw drug and chemicals rather than taking processed pills and grinding them into different forms.

"We take these from the original powders and crystals; there are many pharmacies in town that don't have this technology, so they mash up tablets," Grove said, noting that the grinding process means any fillers or non-drug chemicals used to hold the pills together also go into the compounded medicine, which can lead to allergic reactions for some patients.

Hormone therapy

Another key component of the Groves' compounding business is individualized hormone therapy for women suffering from menopause and men suffering from its male equivalent, andropause.

"(Patients) can give us feedback about their hormone replacement therapy - the side effects and the results - and then we can use that information with the doctor to adjust the hormone levels and get a better result," Whitney Grove said. "We can figure out how to adjust each hormone based on their symptoms, rather than going with a one-size-fits-all approach."

Dr. Kathleen Graves, obstetrician-gynecologist with CoxHealth Physicians for Women, said she sends numerous patients to Grove for specialized hormones. In fact, she uses compounded hormones herself.

"If I get something from the pharmaceutical company, it comes as 0.5 milligram, 1 milligram, 2 milligram, whereas with the compounded items, the pharmacist and I can work together to make little changes," Graves said.

She also noted that communication is key to successful compounding - and Grove fits the bill.

"If a patient comes in and says she's having a problem, (Compounding Pharmacist Tim Gardner) will fax me and say, 'She's having this problem - what do you think about doing this?'" Graves said. "Then I can respond and we can make small changes in between visits."

Grove said that with the new pharmacy open for business, Grove Pharmacy is poised to keep going strong for years to come - and the family ties should continue as well. Whitney's two younger brothers are preparing to enter pharmacy school and continue in the family line of business.

"My father started this business in 1952," he said. "With both our retail pharmacy and compounding work in this location now, we plan to be here for the next 50 years."