What is the definition of compounding in veterinary medicine?

Compounding in veterinary medicine refers to the process of combining and diluting existing drugs to create a medication that meets the specific needs of a patient. This practice allows veterinarians to tailor medications in terms of dosage, formulation, and administration route, particularly when commercially available products do not meet the specific requirements for a particular animal or condition. For example, a veterinarian may need to create a liquid formulation of a medication that is commonly available only in pill form to facilitate easier administration to an animal that has difficulty swallowing pills.

Compounding is often essential in veterinary care to ensure that animals receive the appropriate therapy tailored to their unique situations, such as size, species, or health status. This process is regulated to help ensure the safety and efficacy of the compounded preparations. In contrast, creating new drugs from scratch represents a different and more complex aspect of pharmaceutical development, while marketing drugs without FDA approval and replacing drugs with alternative therapies fall outside the standard definition of compounding.