Empower Pharmacy on LinkedIn: #empowerpharmacy #kprc #houstonlife #compoundingpharmacy (2024)

Transcript

Welcome back to Houston Life. You've probably heard of the popular weight loss drugs like Ozempic and Logobi. They are so popular, in fact, I did not realize this. There have even been shortages. Yeah. One local compounding pharmacy, the largest one in the world, has FDA approval to manufacture these drugs to navigate those shortages. So Mel Camp visited and Power Pharmacy located in North Houston to show us just how they're doing. The FDA explains on their website that when a drug is in shortage, compounding pharmacies may be able to prepare a compounded version if they meet certain requirements. In the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. As of May 2023, Ozempic and Lugovoi are both listed on the FDA's drug shortages list and as a result, Houston based Empower Pharmacy began offering compounded GLP ones. So what does this mean and what do you need to know the FDA? Prizes that drugs come on and off back order all the time and so they've allowed compounding pharmacies and outsourcing facilities to be able to manufacture these drugs during a time of shortage to increase the supply within our country where there is no other legal Ave. for patients to get access to the medications. Pharmacist in charge at Empower Pharmacy remembers a time before there was a rush on the group of drugs like semaglutide, known as GLP ones. Originally. These GLP ones, really the very first one, liraglutide, when it came out when I was in school, Victoza, I think. Is that the brand name of it? It was only for diabetes. And then they started realizing, you know, patients were losing weight. So I remember being, you know, a young pharmacist and, you know, filling these for people and like, oh, yeah, it helps me lose weight. And I was like, wait, what? These GLP ones help lose weight? Then Fast forward to, you know, 2020, we're really seeing this whole, you know, Ozempic take off and you know, Ozempic at the time was only indicated for type 2 diabetes. So GLP ones is a lot to learn about them. But there is semi glue tide, but there's also yeah, so they're in they're kind of like cousins in the same drug category, right? So they're all GLP ones, but it's kind of like semaglutide is 1 drug. Interstate is another. So they're actually different drugs in the same family. OK, so is 1 better than the other? They work differently. So they work very similarly. Turns appetite is considered a little, is considered stronger. It's actually a GLP one and *** as well. So a lot of the times patients will start off with semaglutide. If they find that maybe it doesn't work that well, they'll move up to tears up tight or some providers just like hers uptight and they want to start them off strong. We've been hearing about people overdosing. On GLP ones, what do you, what do you say to this? There's several factors that go into it. It might be, you know, just, you know, the patient sensitivity to the medication. They they might be more sensitive to medication in general and react in a more extreme manner than say you or I do. The provider might not really understand, you know, how to how to dose the medication, how to start the medication off. So maybe they start the patient off at at too high of a dose on accident. They have to actually, you know, take this multi. Was filed draw it out read, you know, insulin syringe with teeny tiny writing and then they get confused on, you know, is this units is this milliliters and sometimes that does lead to patients, you know, overdosing. My my biggest recommendation is if you don't know, don't inject it. Call your pharmacist, go visit your pharmacist, go visit your doctor and have them show you here at Empower Pharmacy, we're the largest 503 a compounding facility in the in the nation. So I'm really proud to say that we have 30 pharmacists on staff. All they're doing is answering. For patients calls and concerns to to be have it, have it such a large team as it's really amazing to see as as a clinician, as a pharmacist in the practice, but also just knowing that we have so many people available to help our patients. We're all different. Some of us are more sensitive to medications and some of us less. And that's why utilizing a compounding pharmacy, it can bring so much value to a patient because then that patient can get exactly the dose that they need, not the dose that's only available commercially. Quality medications is something that drives Empower Pharmacies CEO Sean Nourian, who after a serious accident while working on an oil field, learned he was lacking testosterone and would need to take supplements for the rest of his life. Providing patients with access to a drug that is in shortage is something Empower Pharmacy has been able to do in its production of GLP ones. We are regulated by each individual State Board of pharmacy that we're shipping medications to, and we're also regulated by the FDA and DEA. To ensure that we're abiding by all the safety standards and are being compliant with the rules and regulations. Access to affordable drugs is really important for a lot of people, and it's not always something that's readily available. How are compounding pharmacies making it easier for people to get the drugs that they need? We don't have to deal with the complicated supply chain that the traditional pharmaceutical system has to deal with. With compounding pharmacies, we are the entire supply chain. There are thousands of compounding pharmacies out there. And we all have to compete with each other to be able to get access to that patient at an affordable cost. We see that we can charge a lot less than what another compounding pharmacy or even other types of entities would be charging for their medication while serving others is the greatest thing that you can do in this life. And I'm just very lucky to have found an Ave. where I can serve patients on a, on a, on a global scale where I cannot just help my local community. Here in Houston, but help all communities across this country and the world get access to quality, affordable medication that lets them live healthier and happier lives. Just largest compounding pharmacy in the US right here. Who knew, right? By the way, you can read more about access to compounded GLP ones online at empowerpharmacy.com. OK, cool comma.