Stability of buprenorphine, haloperidol and glycopyrrolate mixture in a 0.9 % sodium chloride solution

Combinations of opioids and adjuvant drug solutions are often used in clini cal practice while little information is available on their microbiological or chemical stability. Currently there are no commercially available, prep acked, ready-to-use epidural or subcutaneous mixtures. Thus, epidural and s ubcutaneous analgesic mixtures must be prepared in the pharmacy on an as-ne eded basis. Such mixtures are typically used for the treatment of severe pa in in cancer patients. The aim of this study was to investigate the microbi ological and chemical stability of a buprenorphine, haloperidol and glycopy rrolate mixture in a 0.9% sodium chloride solution. A high performance liqu id chromatographic (HPLC) method and pH-meter were used to conduct the anal yses. Antimicrobial activity of each component was studied by an agar dilut ion method. According to the results from the chemical and microbiological stability studies, this mixture can be stored in polypropylene (PP) syringe s and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) medication cassettes for at least 30 days at either 21 degrees C or 4 degrees C, and for 16 days in PP syringes at 36 d egrees C, and for 9 days in PVC medication cassettes at 36 degrees C.