He is one of the few pharmacists in the country who deals exclusively in compounding, and the shelves of his Panorama Pharmacy in Panorama City are stocked with potions, pills and ingredients with hard-to-pronounce names.

His expertise comes into play when, for example, a big pharmaceutical company discontinues a drug or a patient is allergic to a dye or other component in a mass-produced drug.

"It takes a lot of time to make the prescriptions, the chains don't have time to do that and the small independents that are busy filling prescriptions don't have time to do that," Broidy said.

He was pushed toward compounding by simple economics - it just wasn't lucrative to fill prescriptions the conventional way. So about a year ago, Broidy sold that part of his practice to Thrifty Corp. drugstore chain.

"I discovered I wasn't making any more money filling 300 than when I was filling 50," he said.

Broidy's made a name for himself in the industry, lecturing at seminars and conventions, and doctors across the country now turn for his concoctions. "About 50 percent of our business is out of state," he said proudly.

Pharmacists learn the art of compounding as part of their training and all do it as part of their practice - though most do very little of it, said David Sparks, president and chief executive officer of the Professional Compounding Centers of America Inc., a Houston-based supplier of bulk materials for pharmacists.

As the industry increasingly has become dominated by the giant chain pharmacies, smaller independent have had to find other ways to stay afloat, he said. Today there are about 25,000 independent pharmacists in the country, down from about 40,000 15 years ago, he said.

Sparks estimates that 2,500 of the remaining independents specialize in compounding. "From a strategic business point of view it's one of the few ways I'm aware of that an individual pharmacist can go today to survive."

The Houston-based International Academy of Compounding Pharmacists now numbers about 1,000 members nationwide, and executive director Shelly Capps suspects that independents comprise the majority of compounding-only pharmacists.

But their numbers appear to be increasing, she said. Besides economic survival, more pharmacists are compounding because it's challenging and the practice makes them feel more directly connected to their customers' treatment.

"So I think it's professionally rewarding and it distinguishes the independent pharmacist from the chain pharmacies,"she said.

Broidy earned his degree in pharmacy from the University of Southern California in 1953, and worked for several chains and independents before opening his first store in 1963 near his present location in the 8200 block of Van Nuys Boulevard.

He began compounding about 25 years ago and , over time, devoted more of his practice to it as his name became more widely known. "I can't tell you that I foresaw what was going to happen in pharmacy. It was luck," he said.

His compounding business started flourishing about five years ago when orders began coming in from states across the map. "We started putting dots on the states from where we got phone call: "We got Rhode Island!" he recalled yelling after one such call.

One out-of-state customer is Milwaukee rheumatologist Dr. Sanford Baim, who has ordered anti-rheumatoid drugs from Broidy for the last few years, said Brian Bernal, Baim's medical assistant.

Broidy is one of the few that can supply the drugs, ch serve as an alternative to another more easily obtainable medicine, he said.

"In essence, it's always good to have the alternatives on hand," Bernal said.

Broidy's trade often requires him to use ingenuity and unexpected ingredients - for example, reducing a heart medicine to a child's dosage that would be palatable. He developed a solution; A tasty liquid administered with a dropper.

In fact, standing alongside containers of substances with unpronounceable names are cans and bottles otherwise found in a supermarket: beef-flavored bouillon and extra virgin olive oil, among others.

And his concoctions aren't just for humans. He once received an order for an antifungal medication for a kitten that called on his skills as an apothecary - and chef.

"We made a liquid and flavored it with tuna," he said. "So we do a lot of creative things and we get a new challenge every day."