What are magistral formulas?
Magistral formulas are individualised medications or treatments prepared by a pharmacist for a specific person.
At present, due to the industrialisation in the pharmaceutical sector, this practice has declined and drugs tend to be sold as a packaged product. However, this method of preparation still plays an important in Dermatology for skincare products and treatments. Let’s see why…
Benefits: individualised treatments
The main benefit of dermatological formulations is that treatments can be personalised.
The pharmacist prepares the medicinal product from the formulation. During this process the treatment’s same active ingredient is maintained, i.e. the main effect of the drug does not change, but we can resolve drug administration problems by making changes to the original form.
Very often, the side effects of treatments are the result of the vehicle or excipients that are required for the drug transport or absorption. If we can maintain the effectiveness of the treatment and reduce the negative effects by optimising the administration thereof: Wouldn’t you want to give it a go? For example, if we know that a particular route of administration is better tolerated by a specific individual or that the specific individual is allergic to a particular component; magistral formulations can change this by maintaining the effect thereof and reducing the side effects.
Controversies
Despite formulations being subject to strict controls, as it entails a manually prepared process, it is often considered to have lots of negative effects (expiry, human factor in the preparation, less information, different price, etc.).
Nowadays magistral formulations are subject to the same safety, effectiveness and quality standards applicable to all medicines (Law on the Guarantees and Rational Use of Medicines, 29/2006).
But…what are they for?
- They cover therapeutical gaps.
- Dosage forms can be prepared that are not available on the market, either because the dose is maximised (children) or because the drugs were withdrawn (rare diseases)
- They optimise the route of administration depending on the patient.
- By altering the composition, not the main effect, for which they were prepared.
- They enable the association of various active ingredients in one preparation, which enables various symptoms or pathologies to be treated.
- They eliminate or substitute excipients in order to reduce possible adverse reactions (allergies, interactions, low tolerance).
- Individualisation of the treatment composition. This would be the nucleus of the formulation in Dermatology and there are various possibilities:
- Adjusting the dose of the active ingredient.
- Selecting the correct vehicle: sometimes the benefit of the active ingredient is very high, but there is little or no absorption. The vehicle is the different substance (protein, fatty acids, etc.) that transports the active ingredient to the place in which it has its effect.
- Preparation of medicinal preparations in special situations.
- Patients in hospital (parenteral nutrition, palliative therapies for terminally ill patients, drugs adapted for swallowing problems, mixtures for intravenous treatments).
- Treatments with cytostatic agents (chemotherapeutic agents) or with radiopharmaceutical products.
- Medicinal preparations in clinical trials (research and development).
There are a whole host of benefits and uses for magistral formulations in Dermatology, which enable patients to receive the appropriate care and treatments.
MartiDerm: magistral formula
At MartiDerm we believe in individualised and personalised treatments. We believe that active ingredients can be adapted to every skin type. Accordingly, a number of MartiDerm cosmetics can be used as a drug vehicle. Therefore, formulas can be modified with the appropriate cosmetic base, with a simple and fast preparation. Your chemist can request the preparation protocol if so required.
There are seven products that can be formulated: Acniover, Calamina Plus, DSP-Rejuvenating Cream, DSP-Mask Depigmenting, Unisex Lotion for Hair loss, Pure Mask and Regenarative Cream REG WS.
Try them!
