Some prescriptions don't exist on a shelf. A dose between the two the factory makes. A cream instead of a pill. The same medication without the dye your kid reacts to. We make those, one patient at a time, in our own lab on South 1st Avenue — around 50 prescriptions a day come out of it.
Prescribing services are available only to patients located in Iowa.
Book a free consultation with our pharmacist. If a compounded medication is the right call for you, he can write it — and it gets made in our lab, not sent out. Prescribing is available to patients in Iowa.
Book a free consultationYou don't need a consultation. Send us the prescription and we'll confirm we can make it, tell you what it costs, and tell you how long it takes. Your prescriber can e-prescribe or fax it, or you can bring in a paper copy.
Send us your prescriptionA compounded prescription is a medication made for one patient, against one prescription, at a strength or in a form that isn't commercially manufactured. A pharmacist prepares it in a licensed 503A pharmacy — ours is at 901 S 1st Ave in Iowa City. It is not a mass-produced drug and it is not FDA approved.
Manufacturers make what sells at scale. That works until you're the patient who needs 3 mg when the tablet comes in 5, or who can't swallow a capsule, or who reacts to a dye that has nothing to do with the medicine. Compounding exists for that gap.
The work happens the same way every time: your provider writes what they want, and a pharmacist builds it — the active ingredient, the strength, the base, the flavor if it needs one. Nothing is batched. Every preparation traces to one prescription and one person, which is the whole regulatory distinction and also the entire point.
Almost anything a prescriber can specify. Aaron's own answer is the honest one: we can compound just about anything. A partial list reads like a limit, so here is what actually comes out of the lab — 25 preparations we make regularly, out of a formulary that changes with what providers ask for.
Don't see it? Call us — the list is what we make often, not what we're able to make.
Book a free consult. You'll talk to Aaron — the same person who writes the prescription and oversees the lab that makes it. No cost, no obligation, and you don't need a referral to get on the calendar.
If a compounded medication makes sense for you, he writes it. Labs get drawn here if they're needed, and he reviews them with you to help decide whether a compounded medication is a reasonable next step. If it isn't the right call, he'll tell you that too. (Prescribing is available to patients in Iowa.)
Made in our Iowa City lab at your strength, in the form you can actually take — capsule, cream, troche, nasal spray, liquid. Payment is collected before compounding begins; that's standard for us and we'd rather you hear it here than at pickup.
Walk in for it, or we ship it to you. Same pharmacist, same lab, start to finish — and if something isn't right, you call the person who made it.
Bioidentical hormone therapy — estradiol, progesterone, testosterone, Bi-Est — made at the strength your prescriber specifies, in the form you'll actually use: cream, capsule, troche, or gel. Hormone therapy requires ongoing supervision by a licensed prescriber and it isn't right for everyone. Some hormone medications are controlled substances and are dispensed only under federal and state law.
Bioidentical hormone therapy ↗Custom strengths and combinations your dermatologist can't buy pre-made — and formulations without the preservative or additive that's been irritating your skin. Cream, gel, lotion, or ointment, as prescribed by your healthcare provider.
Dyes, gluten, lactose, preservatives, specific fillers — if you react to something that isn't the active ingredient, we can usually build the medication without it. This is one of the most common reasons a prescriber sends someone here.
If swallowing a pill is the problem, the pill is the problem. We make flavored liquids, topical creams, transdermal gels, troches, and lozenges — which is often the difference between a prescription that gets taken and one that sits in a cabinet. Common for kids, for older patients, and for anyone with swallowing difficulty.
Pets don't take pills either. We compound for animals in flavored liquids, treats, and transdermal forms, at the strength your veterinarian specifies — including preparations that don't exist commercially in a pet-appropriate form. As prescribed by your veterinarian.
Prescribing services are available only to patients located in Iowa.
Yes — we compound and dispense medications for patients in Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Ohio, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Missouri, Florida, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, with a valid prescription from a licensed prescriber.
So if you live outside Iowa, the path is the same as it is for any specialty medication: your own prescriber writes it, sends it to us, and we make it and ship it to you. You don't need to become our patient for us to be your compounding pharmacy.
Where we can prescribe, and where we can compound and ship ↗
Getting a compounded medication usually means two problems in two buildings: a prescriber who won't write it and a pharmacy that won't make it — with you coordinating both and explaining yourself twice.
Here it's one pharmacist and one lab. Aaron reviews your case, and if a prescription is appropriate he writes it. It's compounded in the building. When you have a question about it six weeks later, the person who answers is the person who made it.
The lab is at 901 S 1st Ave in Iowa City. You can drive to it. Towncrest has been here since 1963 and there are six locations across Eastern Iowa.
We're not the highest-volume compounder in the country, and if you want scale there are national outfits that will quote you. What we have instead is that the pharmacist reviewing your prescription is a named person with a Pharm.D. who works forty minutes from where you live, and that the medication was made under the same roof as the consult.
Compounded medications aren't FDA approved, and that's worth understanding rather than glossing. What it means: the FDA approves mass-manufactured drugs made to one formula for everyone. A compounded prescription is made for one person, against one prescription, so there is no mass-produced product to approve. What is regulated is the pharmacy — ours is a state-licensed 503A compounding pharmacy and LegitScript certified, and every preparation is made by a licensed pharmacist against a prescription from a licensed prescriber. If you want to see where it's made, the lab is at 901 S 1st Ave and you're welcome to come look at it.
Yes, in Iowa, and most people have no idea. Pharmacist prescribing authority is established here, and Aaron McDonough, Pharm.D. practices under it — which is why the consult, the prescription, and the compounding can happen in one relationship instead of three. Outside Iowa we don't prescribe; your own prescriber writes it and we compound and ship it.
Fair question — there are a lot of them, and they're hard to tell apart from a website. Towncrest has been in Iowa City since 1963. Six locations. The compounding lab has a street address you can walk into. It's LegitScript certified. The pharmacist reviewing your case is named, credentialed, and the one on the call — not a form router and not a rotating panel.
Compounded prescriptions here are cash-pay, and payment is collected before we start compounding. That's the honest answer and we'd rather you have it early than at pickup. The consultation is free — there's no charge to find out whether this is even the right path for you. Per-medication pricing is on the individual medication pages, listed as a starting price because the final number depends on the strength and the quantity your prescriber writes.
No. We work alongside your other providers, not instead of them. If you have a primary care provider or a specialist, they stay in the picture — and if what you need is outside what a pharmacist should be handling, Aaron will say so. A consultation is not a guarantee that a prescription gets written.
Tell us what's going on and Aaron will call you to set up a time. If a compounded medication is the right answer, he can write it and we make it here. If it isn't, he'll tell you that.
Send scripts by e-prescribe or fax. If your clinic runs without either, call us and we'll work out how to take it. You'll deal with the pharmacist, not a queue.
A compounding pharmacy prepares medications for individual patients against individual prescriptions, rather than dispensing mass-manufactured products. Compounding pharmacies can adjust strength, change the dosage form, combine ingredients, or remove additives a patient reacts to. Towncrest's 503A compounding lab is at 901 S 1st Ave in Iowa City.
Yes. Every compounded medication requires a valid prescription from a licensed prescriber. If you don't have one, you can book a free consultation with our pharmacist — prescribing services are available to patients in Iowa. Outside Iowa, your own prescriber can send us the prescription.
Most compounded prescriptions are ready in two days or less. Once your prescription is received and payment is collected, we'll tell you the timeline for your specific medication before we begin.
Compounded prescriptions at Towncrest are cash-pay, and payment is collected before compounding begins. Some patients submit receipts to insurance or an HSA/FSA for possible reimbursement; whether anything is reimbursed is between you and your plan. The consultation itself is free.
A 503A pharmacy compounds for individual patients against individual prescriptions. A 503B outsourcing facility produces batches for healthcare facilities. Towncrest is 503A only — every preparation we make traces to one patient and one prescription.
Sometimes, depending on the medication and whether its ingredients are available for compounding. Your prescriber sends us what they want and we'll tell you whether we can make it. Call (319) 337-3526 and we'll check before you go further.
Yes — we compound and dispense for patients in Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Ohio, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Missouri, Florida, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, with a valid prescription from a licensed prescriber. Prescribing services are available only to patients located in Iowa.
