The 220 Medications That Vanished And Why Compounding Pharmacies Are Your Safety Net

Here’s a statistic that should concern every Australian: over 220 medications were discontinued in just 18 months between 2018 and 2019, with more than half assessed as having an impact on public health. That’s not 220 unsafe drugs pulled from shelves—these were effective medications removed purely for economic reasons.

If you’ve ever been told your medication is “no longer available,” you’ve experienced this crisis firsthand. But here’s what most Australians don’t realise: there’s often a solution hiding in plain sight.

The Medication Gap Nobody Talks About

The pharmaceutical industry operates on profit margins, not patient needs. Thousands of drug products have been discontinued over the past 25 years, many due to economic considerations. When a medication treats a small patient population or becomes less profitable to manufacture, it simply disappears—regardless of how well it works for the people who depend on it.

This creates real problems across Australian healthcare:

Paediatric care suffers: Approximately 24% of products with approved paediatric indications aren’t available in forms suitable for children. Parents are left trying to improvise with adult formulations, which is neither safe nor effective.

Allergy concerns multiply: Commercial medications contain standardised fillers, dyes, and preservatives. For patients with sensitivities, these “inactive” ingredients make many medications completely unusable.

Dosage limitations persist: Mass-produced medications come in fixed strengths that don’t account for individual metabolism, weight, or specific needs. The result? Either inadequate treatment or unnecessary side effects.

How Compounding Pharmacy Services Fill the Gap

This is where specialised services like Online Compounding Services become essential. Rather than simply dispensing pre-made medications, compounding pharmacies create customised formulations from pharmaceutical-grade ingredients.

Think of it as the difference between off-the-rack and bespoke tailoring—but for medicine. Compounding pharmacy services can:

Recreate discontinued medications using original formulas, allowing patients to continue effective treatments without disruption.

Customise dosages to match individual prescriptions exactly, eliminating the need to split tablets or alternate doses.

Change delivery methods to suit patient needs—transforming tablets into creams, capsules into liquids, or creating troches that dissolve under the tongue.

Remove problematic ingredients for patients with allergies, creating formulations without lactose, gluten, dyes, or other excipients.

Make medications palatable through flavouring, particularly crucial for paediatric and veterinary applications.

Real Applications Across Australian Healthcare

Compounding pharmacy services address critical needs across multiple areas:

Hormone Replacement Therapy: Customised hormone creams and troches tailored to individual hormone levels provide better symptom management than standardised commercial products.

Fertility Treatments: Specific formulations of progesterone pessaries and DHEA capsules crucial for IVF success aren’t always commercially available, but can be compounded to exact specifications.

Dermatological Solutions: From discontinued acne treatments like Eryacne to custom formulations for pigmentation and hair loss, compounding opens treatment options that would otherwise be inaccessible.

Pain Management: Topical pain medications deliver targeted relief without systemic side effects, compounded in specific concentrations not available commercially.

Veterinary Care: Animals require different doses and delivery methods than humans. Compounding pharmacies create flavoured liquids and easy-to-administer formulations for pets.

Quality and Safety Standards

Australian compounding practices are strictly regulated by the Pharmacy Board of Australia, which has published specific Guidelines on Compounding of Medicines. Quality facilities maintain clean room environments for sterile preparations, rigorous quality control procedures, and comprehensive documentation.

Services like Online compounding services use state-of-the-art equipment and source ingredients only from TGA-approved suppliers. Many compounding pharmacies also undergo regular independent laboratory testing to verify product quality and accuracy.

The Shift Toward Personalised Medicine

Approximately 500 pharmacies across Australia offer compounding services—a number that continues to grow. This growth reflects increasing recognition that personalised medicine isn’t a luxury but often a necessity.

As our understanding of individual variation in metabolism, genetics, and drug response expands, the one-size-fits-all approach to medication becomes increasingly outdated. Compounding represents healthcare’s evolution toward treatments tailored to individual patient needs.

When to Consider Compounding

Compounding pharmacy services may be appropriate if:

• Your medication has been discontinued or is frequently unavailable

• You have allergies or sensitivities to commercial medication ingredients

• You require a dosage not commercially available

• You need alternative delivery methods (topical instead of oral, liquid instead of tablets)

• You’re seeking bioidentical hormone replacement therapy

• Standard formulations cause problematic side effects

• Your pet requires medication in a manageable form

Moving Forward

Many Australians remain unaware that compounding is an option because it’s rarely discussed in conventional healthcare settings. If you’re facing any of these challenges, speak with your doctor about whether compounded medications might be suitable.

When your doctor prescribes a compounded medication, specialised pharmacies work directly with your healthcare provider to create formulations meeting your exact needs. Many offer convenient delivery options across Australia, making access straightforward regardless of location.

The Essential Point

In a healthcare system driven by mass production and standardisation, compounding pharmacy services provide a crucial safety net. When medications vanish from shelves due to profit calculations rather than safety concerns, compounding ensures that patient care doesn’t disappear with them.

For the thousands of Australians affected by medication discontinuations each year, compounding offers continuity of care, customised solutions, and the assurance that their treatment options aren’t limited to whatever happens to be commercially profitable at the moment.

Personalised medicine isn’t a future concept—it’s available right now through compounding pharmacy services across Australia.