In a rare move, the Health Department on Friday shut down a specialty pharmacy in Lincoln, R.I., for improperly compounding fertility drugs.
The department also pulled the license of its pharmacist.
The Rhode Island Village Pharmacy, at 1 Commerce St., and pharmacist Elise Varkonyi both received summary suspensions for violations that included mixing drugs without a proper ventilation hood, failure to monitor surfaces and the air for microorganisms and mislabeling drugs made in Massachusetts as having been made in Rhode Island.
Catherine A. Cordy, Pharmacy Board executive director, said that fewer than 100 Rhode Island patients had received drugs from Village Pharmacy and there was no evidence of patient harm. This is the first time in recent memory that the department has shut down a pharmacy, Cordy said.