Wellspring celebrated its compounding pharmacy division's grand opening with a ribbon cutting attended by over 60 guests, including Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguín, on Tuesday, October 30th at its new location. This new, state-of-the-art 4600 sq. ft. compounding pharmacy houses both sterile and non-sterile labs, serving institutional and individual customers throughout California. Wellspring anticipates launching its sterile services in the first quarter of 2019.
Wellspring partners Rick Niemi, President and CEO, and Andrew Beyers, Chief Pharmacy Officer, created the unique concept and launched this independent pharmacy in 2016 - a rarity in today's healthcare world. Together, the two have a combined 55 years of experience in the industry. Mr. Niemi's expertise is on the business and technology side, while Mr. Beyers specializes in pharmacy operations and patient services.
"Wellspring has made significant investments in measures pertaining to prescription safety, not only within the facility itself, but also within our people." stated Mr. Niemi. "With more stringent compliance requirements, it's become increasingly important to be continually apprised of both state and federal regulations. Wellspring has taken specific steps in the technology and structure of the physical labs, such as HVAC air pressures, water filtration validations, and software integrations with scales to measure for exact ingredients in formularies. In addition, within our staff of 36, we have a dedicated position for internal regulations and compliance, and we partnered with field leaders in training to have all of our pharmacists and technicians certified in sterile and non-sterile compounding."
Wellspring compounds custom medications from scratch for both people and animals of all types, including pets, zoo, and exotic species. Compounded medications are prescribed for those who have unique medication needs, where traditional, manufactured medications don't work. This may include someone who requires unique dosages, or someone who can't swallow pills and prefers a topical cream or ingestible liquid; or needs their medicine ingredients adjusted for allergies. Wellspring compounds affordable medications specific for each patient, combining the right ingredients, in the right doses, in the delivery form that's best for each individual or animal to provide targeted health benefits.
More examples of this are with pain medications, where pain can be treated topically, with a cream or gel that is either local to the area applied or transdermal, providing relief without negative side effects, like drowsiness or even addiction. In this case, compounds are being seen as a viable solution to the ever-growing opioid epidemic.
Wellspring Compounding Pharmacy is located at 2461 Shattuck Ave. in Berkeley, CA and is open Monday through Friday from 9:00am to 6:00pm, where customers can pick up medication. Customers within the state of California can also take advantage of Wellspring's free shipping program. Wellspring is also licensed in, and ships for a fee to Hawaii, Washington, Colorado, Georgia, Washington DC and New York.
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