Samford Pharmacy Grant Will Put Science Behind Beyond-Use Dates

Samford Pharmacy Grant Will Put Science Behind Beyond-Use Dates

Samford University’s McWhorter School of Pharmacy has received a $10,000 International Academy of Compounding Pharmacists Foundation grant to support research in compounded pain formulations.

Pharmacy professors Dr. John Arnold and Dr. Gregory S. Gorman will use the funds to evaluate aspects of a compounded product’s assigned beyond-use date (BUD), sometimes a problematic call for a dispensing pharmacist.

When compounding pharmacists prepare specialty formulations that are not commercially available, they assign a BUD to represent how long the mixture is believed to be potent. Because a compound may contain multiple active ingredients from various drug classes, assigning an accurate BUD can be challenging.

 The researchers will measure the potency of several of the most commonly compounded topical pain creams over a specified time period. In addition to generating BUD data, the experiments will determine efficacy based on how much of the active ingredients penetrates skin.

 The grant is designated for a 12-month time span, which began July 1.  The research will take place in faculty laboratories in Samford pharmacy school’s Ingalls Hall.