On January 20th, Pharmacist Day is celebrated in Brazil. The idea of ​​creating the date came from pharmacist Oto Serpa Grandado and this day was chosen due to the foundation of the Brazilian Association of Pharmacists (ABF), which took place on January 20, 1916.

Currently, in our country, there are more than 234 thousand pharmacists registered in the Regional Councils, according to data from the Federal Council of Pharmacy (CFF) collected in April 2021.

All these professionals are trained and specialized in medicines and health products, as well as promoting their safe use, thanks to their five years of higher education. In general, we can say that, while the doctor is the professional of diagnosis and of the patient, the pharmacist is the professional responsible for the medication monitoring or not of the patient in question, involving from the evaluation of the prescription, its manipulation/preparation until the dispensation. , assisting and promoting rational use.

In the pharmaceutical sector, there are currently 135 areas of activity regulated by the CFF, one of which is the preparation of individualized formulas. The master pharmacist, a professional who works in this sector, is specialized in understanding the unique characteristics of the product that will be prepared and made available to the user, taking into account its peculiarities. Among these products are, in addition to medicines, cosmetics, products based on medicinal plants, dietetic and nutritional products, among others.

Therefore, in general, we can say that the master pharmacist is specialized in customizing products that meet the individual and unique characteristics of each being. No two individuals are the same in the world, each one has a particularity, which is understood by this professional so that the manipulated formulations meet these special characteristics.

For example, if a baby needs medication, he cannot be treated like a miniature adult. Your metabolism is different and, consequently, the action of the formulation in your body is different. A baby cannot swallow a pill, but the compounding pharmacy can prepare this same medication in the form of drops to facilitate administration to that child.

Another example is the elderly, who are usually polymedicated and it is common to see those who confuse the doses or even forget to take all the medicines. In these cases, the compounding pharmacy can combine the different drugs in a single formulation to facilitate treatment.

I also mention the veterinary issue here, because, as it specializes in individualized solutions, the master pharmacy becomes a great ally of veterinarians in offering their own solutions for each species, size, breed and individual, especially in the growing pet market. .

In the same way, nutrition, clinical nutrition, dentistry, cosmetology and other areas of health demand personalized or non-medicated preparations for specific applications for each individual.

Because of all these benefits, I increasingly observe a growth in the consumption of manipulated products. Data from the latest sectoral overview of the National Association of Master Pharmacists (Anfarmag) indicate that each year the number of compounding pharmacies increases, as does the sector’s revenue. This shows that the master pharmacist has been providing his services to an increasing number of users.

Adding this to expectations for the future with regard to new health technologies, we see that the scenario converges towards individualized health. Today we already have telemedicine, electronic prescription, DNA mapping, applications that monitor physiological and clinical parameters, 3D printers producing medicines, artificial intelligence, among others. All this shows that health is increasingly treating each individual as an individual.

If the future of health is individualized, then the master pharmacist will continue to be increasingly demanded, becoming an essential professional for the health care of society in general. Therefore, on this day, more than congratulating, I invite society to know and recognize the important work of pharmacists, especially master pharmacists. After all, committed to improving people’s quality of life, these professionals work in a humanized way and play a fundamental role in health promotion.

About Anfarmag

Non-profit, the National Association of Master Pharmacists (Anfarmag) is the organization that for 35 years has represented the master pharmacies sector, specializing in the handling of medicines and health products in a personalized way that meet the specific needs of each patient. The association is formed by regional offices distributed throughout Brazil and has around 7,000 members. Anfarmag’s work makes it an essential partner in the daily lives of professionals and companies in the segment, in order to create facilities, exclusive benefits and help to instrumentalize the business of compounding pharmacies.