Professional Compounding Centers of America will award top poster-session winners at European Paediatric Formulation Initiative in Athens

-- Prestigious Paediatric-medicine conference focuses on formulating better medicines for children.

HOUSTON, Aug. 21, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Professional Compounding Centers of America (PCCA) will recognize innovation in paediatric medicine by awarding the three best scientific presentations at the sixth European Paediatric Formulation initiative (EuPFI) conference. The Formulating Better Medicines for Children conference, held September 17 – 18 in Athens, Greece, includes dozens of poster-style scientific presentations by pharmacy students and professionals, from which three winners will be selected by a panel of judges.

The conference enables participants to present, discuss breakthroughs and expand their knowledge about recent developments and challenges in the area of paediatric medicine and administration devices, from academia, industry, hospitals, and regulatory authorities. It will bring together international leaders in the fields of paediatric formulation development to discuss emerging topics in these areas. Fabiana Banov, MS, RPh, formulation development chemist, will represent PCCA on the panel of judges.

Maria Carvalho, Ph.D., European compounding expert and PCCA's academic and scientific liaison said, "PCCA supports innovation in customized medicines. The regulatory environment for paediatric medicines in the European Union places a high priority on better protecting children's health. A key part of PCCA's role is to support the scientific community to develop and exploit existing, emerging and new technologies to develop better medicines for children." Winners will each be awarded €245 each along with the recognition of their peers.

PCCA is the largest U.S.-based supplier of chemicals, formulas, equipment and training for compounding pharmacists, who make customized medicines. The company is widely considered to be the founder of the modern compounding-pharmacy profession. It has operations in the U.S., Canada, Australia and Europe.

The European Paediatric Formulation Initiative (EuPFI) is a consortium working in a pre-competitive way on paediatric drug formulations. Members are from academia, hospital pharmacies, the pharmaceutical industry and contract research organizations, with the European Medicines Agency as an observer. The conference in Athens is presented in partnership with the International Association of Pharmaceutical Technology.

Carvalho added, "Compounding pharmacists have long been innovators in developing custom medicines for people with special needs that cannot be met by the manufactured medicines available. Compounding also provides an alternative for discontinued drugs and new drug-associations and strengths. We want to support that type of work wherever it is being done."

About PCCA
PCCA helps compounding pharmacies around the world deliver personalized, compounded medications that make a difference in people's lives. As a compounding pharmacist's most comprehensive resource, PCCA provides products, services and support to almost 4,000 pharmacist members throughout the United States, Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom. Serving compounding pharmacists since 1981, PCCA is headquartered in Houston, Texas. For more information about the company, visit pccarx.com.