Effective April 1, 2019 – Requirement when receiving a compounded or repackaged drug originating from a pharmacy located outside of Alberta
In December 2018, ACP Council approved a policy requiring that community pharmacies located in Alberta enter into a “Compounding and Repackaging Agreement” with every pharmacy that they receive a compounded or repackaged drug from, whether the compounding and repackaging pharmacy is in Alberta or in another province. Compounding and repackaging must only occur pursuant to a prescription. In the case of compounding, federal policy accommodates compounding of limited increments in anticipation of a prescription.
The form of this agreement must be consistent with that approved by Council for compounding and repackaging pharmacies located in Alberta. A template of an agreement is available on the ACP website.
Responsibility for ensuring the necessary agreement is in place lies with the pharmacy licensee of the community pharmacy. Compounded and repackaged drugs must not be received and/or dispensed by a community pharmacy unless the necessary agreements are in place. Further, drugs compounded or repackaged for a community pharmacy must only be distributed to that community pharmacy for dispensing to the patient identified on the prescription.
ACP Council will continue to deliberate policies important to ensuring Albertans’ access to quality drug products through Alberta pharmacies. This is important to protecting patients, as well as pharmacists and pharmacy technicians.
Background
In 2007, the new Pharmacy and Drug Act accommodated Compounding and Repackaging pharmacies located in Alberta. We have become aware that some licensed (community) pharmacies located in Alberta are receiving compounded or repackaged drugs originating from other provinces. ACP wishes to ensure that the roles and responsibilities of everyone involved in the drug distribution system are clear, and that authorities and accountabilities are equally clear. As interest in central processing escalates, ACP will continue its review and discussion about policies that can assure Albertans that they will receive quality drug products.
NOTE: This article was updated on May 18, 2022, to link to new versions of the compounding and repackaging agreement form.
