Compound Queen

TriNity Medical Pharmacy is growing in revenues, employees, locations and target markets. And its chief executive officer, Krutika Patel, says it doesn't plan on slowing down.

The 54-year-old CEO says she always wanted to get into retail. From England, Patel was sponsored to come practice as a pharmacist in the U.S. more than 20 years ago. Today she leads the New Port Richey-based pharmacy, which specializes in compounding medications, or creating a customized medicine for patients. Starting in a 3,000-square-foot facility with three employees in April 2012, the pharmacy now covers 12,000 square feet in TriNity Medical campus, and its 115 employees provide medications to 10,000 patients in a dozen states. With annual revenue around $15 million, Patel expects revenues to grow an additional 10% this year.

Opening a compounding lab in addition to the full-service pharmacy in September 2012 is what made the pharmacy really take off, Patel says. “We were filling up that void that a lot of other medications don't.” Compounding pharmacies allow pharmacists to create special medications for a patient, for example a smaller dose for a child, alternate ingredients for those with allergies, or substitutes if there's a shortage of manufactured drugs.