By Federico Minghi
In the heart of Buonconvento, the Pinotti Pharmacy holds the secret of tailor-made well-being.
In Buonconvento, where time seems to pass with the serene slowness of the surrounding hills, the Pinotti Pharmacy is not only a health center, but an authentic laboratory of health and all-round care. Here, welcoming a customer means first of all listening to their story, transforming professional advice into a gesture of deep empathy and personalized attention. In this reassuring space, the most rigorous pharmaceutical science dialogues with nature on a daily basis, guiding people towards a new awareness of their health: a perfect balance between prevention and treatment, where the soul of the village is reflected in the warmth of a smile and in the excellence of remedies made to last over time.
Dr. Giorgio Pinotti, in your daily life the pharmacy is transformed into an ancient and modern alchemical laboratory. How important is the use of natural products formulated and made directly in your galenic laboratory in your philosophy?
“I believe that the value of our laboratory lies above all in the possibility of offering a truly personalized approach. Each person has different needs and, thanks to our skills in galenics and phytotherapy, we can develop health preparations designed to meet specific needs, supporting the professional advice of the pharmacist with tailor-made solutions”.
What are the most particular or exclusive preparations that come to life in your laboratory and what specific benefits do they offer in the treatment of certain diseases or disorders?
“We range from health preparations to galenic drugs on prescription. Among the most particular preparations, we create customized trichological formulations, hormone replacement therapies and galenic preparations to support cancer therapies. Another area of great interest is the possibility of personalizing therapy when the industrial drug does not fully meet the patient’s needs, for example by changing the dosage or pharmaceutical form to facilitate its intake. We also have important experience in veterinary galenics, with preparations also dedicated to the treatment of FIP (feline infectious peritonitis), and we create a wide range of personalized dermatological and topical preparations”.
If you had to look at the richness of nature through the eyes of a scientist, what are the natural active ingredients that you consider most interesting and effective for health today?
“As far as our multiple health preparations of plant origin are concerned, we choose to use mother tinctures because the German Pharmacopoeia, which has always been an important reference for phytotherapeutic galenics, provides for their use in their formulations. In fact, hydroalcoholic extraction makes it possible to preserve a more complete phytocomplex than a simple aqueous extraction, also including lipophilic components, such as numerous terpenes and other phytochemical constituents. It is an approach that we adopt to make the most of the characteristics of the plant in our preparations. For oral use, however, I consider rhodiola one of the most interesting plants for support in periods of psychophysical stress and fatigue”.
Treatment but also prevention, linked to the seasons. What products do you recommend integrating into your daily routine to protect the body at this time and during the year?
“In this summer season, I recommend rhodiola as a support to promote the adaptation of the body in periods of psychophysical stress and fatigue, together with the galenic preparations that we make to be taken before exposure to the sun, designed to support the skin’s natural defences against oxidative stress induced by UV rays. In the laboratory we also make a gel based on mother tinctures of calendula, mallow and lavender, used as an adjuvant in the treatment of skin irritations and to give relief to skin reddened or stressed by exposure to the sun and external agents. With the arrival of autumn and winter, the focus shifts to galenic formulations dedicated to supporting the immune system and the well-being of the respiratory tract, while our preparations aimed at the well-being of the urinary tract remain valid all year round”.
Doctor, it is clear that yours is not just a job, but a mission. What was the path that led you to make the laboratory the fulcrum of your activity?
“Passion is the only real engine. Today, the pharmacy sometimes risks getting lost behind purely commercial logic, but I believe that the laboratory still represents the soul of the pharmacist’s profession: being able to create a personalized preparation from scratch to meet the needs of the patient. My journey began years ago with Peter Jäger’s school in Cortona, which I continue to attend today, and continues with the second-level University Master’s Degree in Clinical Galenics at the University of Camerino, which I will finish by the end of the year. Knowledge never ends. I hope to pass on to my collaborators the passion for pharmaceutical craftsmanship, because I believe it represents one of the most authentic and distinctive values of our profession”.
Info: Farmacia Pinotti, Via Dante Alighieri 53, Buonconvento (Si) / Tel.: 0577 806020 / Cell.: 331 1446544 / Mail: info@farmaciapinotti.it
