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 clinical practice while little information is available on their microbiological or chemical stability. Currently there are no commercially available, prepacked, ready-to-use epidural or subcutaneous mixtures. Thus, epidural and subcutaneous analgesic mixtures must be prepared in the pharmacy on an as-needed basis. Such mixtures are typically used for the treatment of severe pain in cancer patients. The aim of this study was to investigate the microbiological and chemical stability of a buprenorphine, haloperidol and glycopyrrolate mixture in a 0.9% sodium chloride solution. A high performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method and pH-meter were used to conduct the analyses. Antimicrobial activity of each component was studied by an agar dilution method. According to the results from the chemical and microbiological stability studies, this mixture can be stored in polypropylene (PP) syringes 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 degrees C, and for 9 days in PVC medication cassettes at 36 degrees C.