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How hard is it to open up your own pharmacy?
- Thread starter CrazEpharmacist
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Plenty of people have done what you're asking before. I would search for the posts by Doctor M, some of his advice might be pretty useful for you.
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Like any other independent businessperson these days, you would need to identify some niche market, and specialize, unless you are in a very isolated rural area and are the only game in town.
I recently found out that a woman who graduated 2 years ahead of me (we worked together one summer) has a compounding pharmacy. It's just her, a tech, and a billing/shipping clerk in an unmarked storefront in the city where her husband's a college professor. If you don't know what compounding is, it's drugs in custom-made dosage forms that are not commercially available. Many if not most compounding pharmacies get the majority of their business from veterinarians, so guess what? NO INSURANCE HASSLES! Most human compounding is for skin preparations, and "adult" drugs for children.
I once compounded Viagra suspension for a toddler with a feeding tube, and my parents' cat developed hyperthyroidism towards the end of her life, and the vet ordered methimazole gel, to be rubbed on her ear. It's the thinnest and most hairless skin on a cat, and can't be licked off. Progesterone suppositories are also a common human compound.
And if retail isn't your thing, there's hospital, long term care, mail order, IV infusion, institutional (i.e. state care home or prison) and other opportunities. If you're really adventurous, there's even nuclear pharmacy, where you process various isotopes for diagnosis or treatment.
I recently found out that a woman who graduated 2 years ahead of me (we worked together one summer) has a compounding pharmacy. It's just her, a tech, and a billing/shipping clerk in an unmarked storefront in the city where her husband's a college professor. If you don't know what compounding is, it's drugs in custom-made dosage forms that are not commercially available. Many if not most compounding pharmacies get the majority of their business from veterinarians, so guess what? NO INSURANCE HASSLES! Most human compounding is for skin preparations, and "adult" drugs for children.
I once compounded Viagra suspension for a toddler with a feeding tube, and my parents' cat developed hyperthyroidism towards the end of her life, and the vet ordered methimazole gel, to be rubbed on her ear. It's the thinnest and most hairless skin on a cat, and can't be licked off. Progesterone suppositories are also a common human compound.
And if retail isn't your thing, there's hospital, long term care, mail order, IV infusion, institutional (i.e. state care home or prison) and other opportunities. If you're really adventurous, there's even nuclear pharmacy, where you process various isotopes for diagnosis or treatment.
