Utility of PhaSeal, a closed‐system drug transfer device, in facilitating vial sharing to reduce waste and assist in medication cost savings

Abstract

Background The cost of cancer care is rising. With the soaring costs of cancer treatment, strategies to minimise medication wastage have become more important. Aim This study evaluated cost savings associated with a centralised pharmacy aseptic service using the closed‐system drug transfer device PhaSeal (Becton, Dickinson and Company, North Ryde, NSW, Australia) for the preparation of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) in a large teaching hospital. Methods Two scenarios for the preparation of mAb were evaluated retrospectively over a 24‐month period. All doses prepared by pharmacy in 2016 and 2017 were reviewed. In Scenario 1, costs were determined for mAb prepared by the centralised pharmacy aseptic service using PhaSeal. In Scenario 2, each individual dose was reviewed to determine the minimum number of vials that needed to be prepared, with any residual vial contents disposed of. Results In all, 8291 preparations were reviewed. The medication costs savings over the 24‐month period was A$1 259 394. The cost of PhaSeal in the preparation of the 8291 items equates to A$207 275. Conclusion Centralising aseptic preparation of mAbs together with the utilisation of PhaSeal to allow vial sharing in a large teaching hospital resulted in savings of A$526 059 per year by significantly minimising medication wastage.

Cost analysis of implementing a vial-sharing strategy for chemotherapy drugs using intelligent dispensing robots in a tertiary Chinese hospital in Sichuan

“…Using CSTD will introduce some new risks, and traditional vial-sharing will also require manual intervention for their storage, which could result in the incorrect writing of information or dose miscalculation or omission altogether ( 21 ). Rather than use CSTDs to store drugs for reuse in the same period ( 22 ), we prepared them simultaneously by employing an intelligent dispensing robot. Therefore, the introduction of an intelligent robot capable of dispensing multiple prescriptions simultaneously to run a real-time vial-sharing strategy in this investigation encountered not the traditional approach-related safety issue concerns, such as the introduction of impurities due to repeated interspersing or recording drug information incorrectly.…”

Preventing drug vial wastage and reducing expenditure associated with injectable cancer drugs: International oncology pharmacy survey

“…4 Recently, in a two year retrospective review from a major Australian hospital, Siderov demonstrated yearly savings of US$3,52,500 with vial sharing using a CSTD to extend BUD up to 7 days. 6…”

“…4 Recently, in a two year retrospective review from a major Australian hospital, Siderov demonstrated yearly savings of US$3,52,500 with vial sharing using a CSTD to extend BUD up to 7 days. 6 The lack of reliable stability data on prepared parenteral products can commonly limit the shelf life of these products to 24 hours resulting in potential waste if these products are not administered in time. Pharmaceutical compounding companies perform inhouse stability studies, thus enabling them to extend the shelf life on prepared parenteral products and allowing them to be reused up until their expiry date.…”