Albury-based Border Compounding Pharmacy founder Ben Eshelby said they once made a drug to help a vet treat a baby carpet python with pneumonia.

“We needed to make something that would stick to its tongue because obviously it couldn’t swallow a capsule,” he said.

The pharmacy’s co-owner, Lee McLoughlan, said a “compounding pharmacy” created custom-made medications and health products to suit a specific person.

He said they might change a tablet into a liquid for a child or pet or make a formulation for a drug that was not available.

“All of the products we make are not commercially available,” he said.

The pharmacy also makes custom-made moisturisers and serums, called BCP Skincare. 

When demand for the pharmaceuticals and BCP Skincare flooded in from around Australia and overseas, the pharmacy moved from Lavington in November to bigger premises in Albury.

It employs a team of nine – including pharmacists, technicians and scientists – in the laboratory and shopfront on the corner of Smollett and Olive streets.

Mr Eshelby said he opened Border Compounding Pharmacy in Wagga Road five years ago to fill a niche in the market.

“Local people were sending their prescriptions away to services in Sydney or Melbourne, and paying more than they needed to,” he said.