Finding the right medication for your child isn’t always straightforward. Children often have unique needs—whether it’s the taste, dosage, or form—and the options available off the shelf don’t always work. Some medications might be too strong, others not strong enough, and sometimes, the taste is so off-putting that getting a child to take their medicine becomes a daily struggle. Paediatric compounding offers a solution by customising medications to fit those specific requirements, ensuring that children receive the right treatment in a form that’s easier for them to take.
This need has become even more pressing recently due to shortages of key antibiotics, like those used to treat respiratory infections in children. With these shortages, compounding pharmacies, like Zenith Pharmacy, have played a crucial role in ensuring that children still get the medications they need. By tailoring medications to each child’s needs, we help parents navigate these challenges more effectively.
Why Paediatric Compounding is Important
1. Commercial Availability and Suitability:
Standard medications aren’t always designed with children in mind. Many medications that are effective for adults are not available in forms suitable for children, such as liquid suspensions that are easier for them to swallow. Even when these forms are available, they can be subject to shortages, leaving parents scrambling for alternatives. A recent example is the significant shortage of liquid antibiotics like azithromycin in Australia, which are critical for treating respiratory infections in children. This shortage left many parents concerned about how to provide the necessary medications to their children.
At Zenith Pharmacy, we’ve encountered numerous parents facing this exact issue. Through paediatric compounding, we’ve been able to compound these antibiotics from adult tablets into child-friendly liquid forms. This solution not only ensures that children continue to receive their necessary treatments but also highlights the adaptability of compounding in addressing urgent healthcare needs. Compounding pharmacists can also adjust the concentration of the medication to better match the child’s specific age and weight, offering a more accurate and reliable treatment option that might not be available through standard commercial medications.
2. Customised Dosage Forms:
Children’s medication needs vary widely, and the one-size-fits-all approach of commercial pharmaceuticals doesn’t always work. Many dosage forms that could be more suitable for children are simply unavailable commercially due to several challenges: the need for specialised formulations based on age and weight, the difficulty of taste-masking bitter medications, the lack of paediatric-specific excipients, and the complex and lengthy regulatory requirements for paediatric drug approvals. In essence, it is difficult, time-consuming, and expensive to develop commercial medications that can broadly address these specific needs, and these challenges often result in a lack of suitable options for young patients.
On the other hand, paediatric compounding allows for the creation of medications in forms that are more appropriate and easier for children to take while bypassing some of the main challenges associated with broad-spectrum commercial products. Compounding pharmacists can tailor doses specifically to a child’s age and weight, ensuring a more personalised and accurate approach to treatment. This flexibility extends to the selection of excipients, allowing pharmacists to choose ingredients that are both safe and effective for paediatric use. Moreover, compounding sidesteps the lengthy commercial drug approval process, providing quicker access to tailored medications that meet the immediate needs of paediatric patients.
For example, melatonin has been commercially available in tablet form for a long time, but at Zenith Pharmacy, we frequently compound it into a liquid suspension for children who have difficulty swallowing pills. This ability to tailor the dosage form to the child’s needs not only improves compliance but also makes the treatment process less stressful for both the child and the parent.
3. Enhanced Taste and Palatability:
The taste and appearance of a medication can significantly impact a child’s willingness to take it. Children are particularly sensitive to bitter or unpleasant flavours, which can lead to refusal to take medicine and non-compliance with treatment regimens. Commercial medications often struggle with taste-masking because they must cater to a broad audience, limiting the options for flavouring. Designing a palatable medicine that suits everyone is a challenge, and sometimes the result still leaves much to be desired.
Paediatric compounding offers a distinct advantage by allowing for more flexibility in taste-masking. Pharmacists can adjust flavours based on direct feedback from parents and children, creating a product that is specifically tailored to an individual child’s preferences. This ability to customise the taste on a case-by-case basis makes it much easier to achieve compliance, as children are more likely to take medicine that tastes good. By transforming a medication that might otherwise be a struggle into something that is easy and even pleasant to take, paediatric compounding plays a crucial role in improving compliance and ensuring that children complete their prescribed treatments, ultimately leading to better health outcomes.
4. Flexible Medication Formats:
One of the biggest advantages of paediatric compounding is the ability to offer a wide range of medication formats tailored to the needs and preferences of the child. Commercial medications often come in limited forms, which may not be suitable for all children. For instance, a young child or one with a medical condition that affects swallowing may struggle with standard pill forms.
Paediatric compounding allows pharmacists to create medications in various formats such as liquids, creams, gels, suppositories, and even lollipops, which can be easier for children to take. This flexibility ensures that medication administration is as stress-free as possible, which is particularly important for maintaining treatment compliance. For example, a child who refuses to take a bitter-tasting pill might be more willing to take the same medication in a flavoured liquid or a lollipop form. This adaptability in medication format helps to reduce the stress and anxiety often associated with taking medication, leading to better treatment outcomes.
Conclusion
Paediatric compounding offers a vital solution for ensuring that children receive the medications they need in forms that are safe, effective, and easier to take. Whether it's overcoming shortages of key medications, customising dosages, improving taste and palatability, or offering flexible medication formats, compounding plays a crucial role in paediatric healthcare. By tailoring medications to the unique needs of each child, compounding helps to improve compliance, reduce stress, and ultimately lead to better health outcomes for young patients.
Written By
Zen Xiao