News in brief - Dec. 17, 2012
New guidance issued for drug compounding after meningitis outbreak
The Institute for Safe Medication Practices, a Horsham, Pa.-based nonprofit, released new guidelines on safely producing sterile compounded medications. The guidance comes in the wake of sterility lapses in injectable steroids that led to a fungal meningitis outbreak across 36 states, sickening 541 people and killing 36 as of Dec. 6.
The guidelines are the result of a safety summit the institute convened in October with the American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition and the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists. Core elements of the drug compounding process are addressed in the guidelines, including how to compound sterile drugs, prepare bulk containers and label products. The complete document is available at the institute’s website (ismp.org/tools/guidelines/ivsummit/ivcguidelines.pdf).
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