Reducing harm from injecting pharmaceutical tablet or capsule material by injecting drug users.

Area of Science:

• Pharmacology
• Public Health
• Materials Science

Background:

• Pharmaceutical preparations not intended for intravenous administration are often injected by drug users.
• Injected tablet fillers like talc can cause pulmonary emboli and other complications.
• Injection drug user syringe filters (IDUSF) are promoted to mitigate these risks.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the particle-filtering effectiveness of an IDUSF (Sterifilt®, 10 µm pore size).
• To compare filtration with no filtration for dissolved generic buprenorphine and methylphenidate (Ritaline®) solutions.

Main Methods:

• Laboratory-based study.
• Solutions of generic buprenorphine and Ritaline® were prepared.
• Particle counts were compared between filtered and unfiltered solutions.

Main Results:

• IDUSF removed approximately 85% of 1-5 µm particles and 97% of 5-18 µm particles from buprenorphine solutions.
• For Ritaline® solutions, IDUSF removed two-thirds of 1-5 µm particles and 95% of 5-18 µm particles.
• Significant reduction in large particles was observed.

Conclusions:

• IDUSF demonstrate significant effectiveness in filtering large particles that cause major harms, such as pulmonary emboli.
• Promoting IDUSF implementation in harm reduction programs, with user training, is a viable strategy.
• This approach can help alleviate severe health consequences associated with injecting pharmaceutical preparations.