Posted by chemist on May 2, 2004, at 19:28:02
In reply to question for chemist re: seligiline, please, posted by platinumbride on May 2, 2004, at 14:05:57
> I posted a few days ago that my pdoc suggests I try seligiline 20mgs in a pharmacist compounded cream form. I guess the pharm. says that he can compound the seligiline into a cream, thus rendering transdermal delivery of the drug (like the patch) but without the patch. ( I live in the USA).
>
> I'm not sure if this is snake oil or actually a good, true and legal way of bypassing the country's slowness in legalizing the patch. It seems that if this is indeed efficacious, it would be happening already, yet I have not read of anything of the sort.
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> Do you have any opinions?
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> Thank you,
>
> Dianehi diane, chemist here....i wouldn't call it snake oil, but the pharmacist better be a pro at compounding, which is a rapidly-fading art (in the US, at least) and has made the New York Times within the past 3 weeks or so as the topic of a problematic facet...you are being prescribed an MAO-B inhibitor, and i suspect that you are having trouble titrating slowly. however, even if this is the case, it makes no sense: there are tablets and capsules offered, and these can be cut/spilled to smaller doses. there is a LARGE problem with transdermal delivery of drugs: the cream (and whatever else) had better be able to take the drug through your epidermis in the right period of time, otherwise you will be over-dosed or under-dosed. the FDA's therapeutic equivalence list for generics vs. brand names for things like retin-a and other gels/creams/etc. is evidence that the goop in which the drug is mixed is of great import for reaching blood levels of the drug being applied. the generics come out not so well, because they save money by using, say, petroleum jelly instead of a better compound. finally, selegiline is a salt, not a free base, and as such there is very little chance that if this compound is put in an oil-based cream that the free base will emerge and thus cross through your skin (little to no chance, really). keep me informed, but it sounds fishy to me....all the best, chemist
poster:chemist
thread:342491
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040429/msgs/342572.html