SAN JOSE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Wedgewood Connect, the new FDA-registered, cGMP, 503B Outsourcing Facility subsidiary of Wedgewood Pharmacy, has begun to produce sterile medications for office use. The first products offered are five formulations of Cyclosporine Ophthalmic Solution and five formulations of Tacrolimus Ophthalmic Solution. Wedgewood Connect is a 22,000-square-foot, FDA-registered Outsourcing Facility located in San Jose, California.
A 503B Outsourcing Facility is a designation that was created by Congress in the Drug Quality & Security Act to bridge the gap between traditional state-licensed compounding pharmacies and industrial pharmaceutical manufacturers. 503B Outsourcing Facilities must register with and be inspected by FDA and adhere to cGMP (Current Good Manufacturing Practices) standards. 503B Outsourcing Facilities provide access to sterile compounded medications for office use, enabling prescribers to begin treatment as soon as possible. This is especially critical in a few U.S. states that prohibit, or limit office use of compounded medications produced by traditional, state-licensed compounding pharmacies.
Marcy A. Bliss, CEO of Wedgewood Pharmacy, said: “As a partner in patient care for more than 80% of the nation’s veterinarians, Wedgewood Pharmacy is dedicated to elevating veterinarians’ and human-healthcare providers’ access to high-quality medications. Offering the combined formularies of three traditional state-licensed compounding pharmacies as well as a 503B Outsourcing Facility allows us to provide a full spectrum of high-quality specialty medications, ranging from highly customized compounded medications for patient-specific prescriptions to office-use items that prescribers keep in stock for immediate use and dispensing.”
Dan Rowan, vice president of Sales and Marketing, added: “Our one-stop approach to this combined formulary offering is simple. We have designed an experience based on the principles of quality and service our customers say they value most. Prescribers tell us exactly what they need, and we deliver it to the prescriber, animal owner, or patient as quickly, easily, and affordably as possible. We have developed a seamless ordering and prescribing experience, unlike any other in the industry, which helps prescribers navigate the intricacies behind the scenes that ensure compliance with all applicable laws and regulations. (Read more…)”
In the initial formulary, various formulations of sterile Ophthalmic Solutions of Cyclosporine and Tacrolimus will be introduced weekly between December 1, 2020 and December 31, 2020. They include:
- Cyclosporine in Corn Oil 0.2% Ophthalmic Solution 15ml
- Cyclosporine in Corn Oil 1% Ophthalmic Solution 15ml
- Cyclosporine in Corn Oil 2% Ophthalmic Solution 15ml
- Cyclosporine in MCT Oil 1% Ophthalmic Solution 15ml
- Cyclosporine in MCT Oil 2% Ophthalmic Solution 15ml
- Tacrolimus in Corn Oil 0.02% Ophthalmic Solution 15ml
- Tacrolimus in Corn Oil 0.03% Ophthalmic Solution 15ml
- Tacrolimus in MCT Oil 0.02% Ophthalmic Solution 15ml
- Tacrolimus in MCT Oil 0.03% Ophthalmic Solution 15ml
- Tacrolimus in MCT Oil 1% Ophthalmic Solution 15ml
About Wedgewood Pharmacy
Wedgewood Pharmacy is the largest compounding pharmacy devoted to animal health in the U.S. Compounding is the long-established tradition in pharmacy practice that enables practitioners to prescribe and patients to take medicines that are specially prepared by pharmacists to meet patients’ individual needs. A growing number of patients have unique health and compliance needs that off-the-shelf prescription medicines cannot meet. For them, customized, compounded medications prescribed or ordered by licensed physicians or veterinarians and prepared safely by trained, licensed compounding pharmacists and pharmacy technicians are the only way to better health.
Compounded medications are created and prepared in state-regulated pharmacies when mass-manufactured drugs are not, according to a prescriber, available or are not appropriate for a patient. Wedgewood Pharmacy’s 503B Outsourcing Facility, Wedgewood Connect, manufactures medications under FDA’s modified cGMP standards.
Today’s Wedgewood Pharmacy grew from a local community pharmacy to become one of the largest compounding pharmacies in the United States. It is the leading pharmacy brand in animal health, recognized by 99% of veterinarians, and used by 8 in 10 veterinarians within the past year. It also prepares compounded medications for the human-health medical specialties of Addiction Medicine, Urology, and Ophthalmology. The company serves more than 50,000 prescribers and hundreds of thousands of patients throughout the U.S. every year.
George (late) and Lucy Malmberg, both pharmacists, purchased Wedgewood Pharmacy in 1981, the year after the pharmacy opened. In June 2016, New Harbor Capital became the majority shareholder of the company. In 2018, the company acquired Diamondback Drugs. In 2020, the company purchased and began production at Wedgewood Connect, an FDA-registered 503B Outsourcing Facility, in San Jose, California. In the same year, the company acquired Wildlife Pharmaceuticals and ZooPharm, in Colorado and Wyoming, respectively.
Wedgewood Pharmacy is accredited by the Pharmacy Compounding Accreditation Board (PCAB®) for compliance with PCAB and other nationally recognized compounding standards. PCAB was formed by eight of the nation’s leading pharmacy associations and is a service of Accreditation Commission for Health Care. As a third-party accreditation organization, PCAB has developed the highest national standards against which providers are measured to demonstrate their ability to effectively and efficiently deliver quality compounded medications to consumers.
Wedgewood Pharmacy employs more than 650 people.
Contacts
Company
Marcy A. Bliss
Chief Executive Officer
MBliss@wedgewoodpharmacy.com
856-832-1303
PR Firm
David Kirk
DavidKirk@thePRguy.com
480-270-9631