Purpose The purpose of this study was to assess the cost saved and the amount of drug wasted when compounding anticancer drugs in the centralized unit for chemotherapy preparation. A secondary objective was to estimate the centralization impact of activities related to the preparation of chemotherapies. Methods This was a two-month, single-centre, prospective study conducted at the National Oncology Institute in Rabat. The cost saved and the amount of drug wasted were calculated using a standardized data collection sheet (the prescribed dose, the amount of drug deployed, the amount remaining after compounding, the amount of drug saved and the drug wastage). The centralization impact was calculated using the amount of drug wasted in the centralized unit for chemotherapy preparation and a theoretical amount of drug wasted without centralization of preparation. Results During the study period, the total amount of drug saved was 249,959.5 mg (7.2% of drug used), which represented 96,657 USD. The amount of drug wasted was 89,290.5 mg or 42275.5 USD. The drug waste per dilution and per drug was 6.4 mg [1.6-16.1]. While the potential savings over one year (580,000 USD) reached 13.9% of the cytostatic drugs budget for 2018, the potential drug waste cost reached 6.1%. The centralization impact is estimated at an average of 79.5% ± 13.7% waste reduction. Conclusion The outcome of our study showed that the grouping of prescriptions in centralized unit for chemotherapy preparation could result in significant savings on the amount of drugs deployed. The centralization of cytostatic preparations is of economic interest.

Objective The purpose of our study was to evaluate the contribution of an automated drug dispensing system in securing cancer chemotherapy production process at the pharmacy of the National Institute of Oncology in Rabat. Methods The failure modes and effects analysis method was applied to the chemotherapy production process in two phases: Phase 1, using an open shelf for storage then phase 2, using an automated drug dispensing system. The failure modes were defined and their criticality indexes was calculated on the basis of the likelihood of occurrence, the potential severity for the patients and/or the impact on the process and the detection probability. The criticality indexes of the two phases were prioritized and compared. Results We identified 35 failure modes for phase 1 and 37 for phase 2. The sum of criticality indexes was 5957 and 4586, respectively, for phase 1 and phase 2, corresponding to a criticality reduction of −23%. The greatest improvements concerned that the needed drug is missing during the picking, storage of potential expired drugs, and double compounding. Conclusion Our study highlighted the contribution of automated drug dispensing system in risk minimization. The use of automated drug dispensing system is a part of security improvement in chemotherapy production unit.

Objective: To determine the incidence and frequency of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) induced by cancer chemotherapy in pediatric inpatients. Patients and methods: This was a six-month prospective observational study in the pediatric hematology-oncology department of the children's hospital of Rabat. This study took into account ADRs manifested by in inpatient children and undergoing cancer chemotherapy. A modified version of the Moroccan Poison Control and Pharmacovigilance Centre's notification form was used to collect demographic, clinical, cancer treatment and ADR-related data. The causality, severity and preventability were assessed for each adverse event. Results: 106 patients out of 118 followed have developed a total of 266 ADRs. The most frequent ADRs were anemia (14.3%), infections (9.4%), leukopenia (8.6%) and fever (8.3%). Vincristine (16.3%), etoposide (14%) and cytarabine (13%) were the most frequently administered products. Cytarabine followed by etoposide were the drugs most involved in ADRs. The majority of ADRs (55.6%) were probable according to the WHO method of causality assessment. Conclusion: Cancer chemotherapy is associated with a high risk of developing ADRs, particularly hematological ADRs in children. Pediatric patients receiving cytarabine and daunorubicin combinations and regimens including anthracyclines should receive more attention. Risk management plans need to be implemented by health care teams in this area.