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Earl Broidy has found a niche in
the world of modern pharmacy by harking back to the
past: He specializes in mixing made-to-order medicines
like an old-time apothecary.
He is one of the few pharmacists
in the country who deals exclusively in compounding,
and the shelves of his Expert Pharmacy in Panorama City
are stocked with potions, pills and ingredients with
hard-to-pronounce names.
His expertise comes into play when,
for example, a big pharmaceutical company discontinues
a drug or a patient is allergic to a dye or other component
in a mass-produced drug.
"It takes a lot of time to
make the prescriptions, the chains don't have time to
do that and the small independents that are busy filling
prescriptions don't have time to do that," Broidy
said.
 He
was pushed toward compounding by simple economics -
it just wasn't lucrative to fill prescriptions the conventional
way. So about a year ago, Broidy sold that part of his
practice to Thrifty Corp. drugstore chain.
"I discovered I wasn't making
any more money filling 300 than when I was filling 50,"
he said.
Broidy's made a name for himself
in the industry, lecturing at seminars and conventions,
and doctors across the country now turn for his concoctions.
"About 50 percent of our business is out of state,"
he said proudly.
Pharmacists learn the art of compounding
as part of their training and all do it as part of their
practice - though most do very little of it, said David
Sparks, president and chief executive officer of the
Professional Compounding Centers of America Inc., a
Houston-based supplier of bulk materials for pharmacists.
As the industry increasingly has
become dominated by the giant chain pharmacies, smaller
independent have had to find other ways to stay afloat,
he said. Today there are about 25,000 independent pharmacists
in the country, down from about 40,000 15 years ago,
he said.
Sparks estimates that 2,500 of
the remaining independents specialize in compounding.
"From a strategic business point of view it's one
of the few ways I'm aware of that an individual pharmacist
can go today to survive."
 The
Houston-based International Academy of Compounding Pharmacists
now numbers about 1,000 members nationwide, and executive
director Shelly Capps suspects that independents comprise
the majority of compounding-only pharmacists.
But their numbers appear to be
increasing, she said. Besides economic survival, more
pharmacists are compounding because it's challenging
and the practice makes them feel more directly connected
to their customers' treatment.
"So I think it's professionally
rewarding and it distinguishes the independent pharmacist
from the chain pharmacies,"she said.
Broidy earned his degree in pharmacy
from the University of Southern California in 1953,
and worked for several chains and independents before
opening his first store in 1963 near his present location
in the 8200 block of Van Nuys Boulevard.
He began compounding about 25 years
ago and , over time, devoted more of his practice to
it as his name became more widely known. "I can't
tell you that I foresaw what was going to happen in
pharmacy. It was luck," he said.
His compounding business started
flourishing about five years ago when orders began coming
in from states across the map. "We started putting
dots on the states from where we got phone call: "We
got Rhode Island!" he recalled yelling after one
such call.
One out-of-state customer is Milwaukee
rheumatologist Dr. Sanford Baim, who has ordered anti-rheumatoid
drugs from Broidy for the last few years, said Brian
Bernal, Baim's medical assistant.
Broidy is one of the few that can
supply the drugs, ch serve as an alternative to another
more easily obtainable medicine, he said.
"In essence, it's always good
to have the alternatives on hand," Bernal said.
Broidy's trade often requires him
to use ingenuity and unexpected ingredients - for example,
reducing a heart medicine to a child's dosage that would
be palatable. He developed a solution; A tasty liquid
administered with a dropper.
In fact, standing alongside containers
of substances with unpronounceable names are cans and
bottles otherwise found in a supermarket: beef-flavored
bouillon and extra virgin olive oil, among others.
And his concoctions aren't just
for humans. He once received an order for an antifungal
medication for a kitten that called on his skills as
an apothecary - and chef.
"We made a liquid and flavored
it with tuna," he said. "So we do a lot of
creative things and we get a new challenge every day."
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