Carboplatin hypersensitivity reactions are one of the major clinical challenges in treating patients with relapse/recurrent ovarian malignancies. Desensitization protocols allow the continuation of treatment in patients who have presented hypersensitivity reactions by gradually re-introducing small amounts of the drug up to full therapeutic doses. Carboplatin desensitization protocol is based on three solutions that are usually prepared in the chemotherapy centralized units of hospital pharmacies. First and second solutions are diluted under the established concentration limit to guarantee the stability of the preparation. We developed a specific high-performance liquid chromatography assay to determine the stability of carboplatin infusion solutions that have been diluted to 0.2 mg/mL and 0.02 mg/mL in 250 mL of 5% dextrose in polypropylene infusion bags which were stored 24 h protected from light at room temperature. Samples were withdrawn at t = 0 h, 3 h, 6 h, and 24 h. The analytical column was a Zorbax eclipse XDB-C18 (150 mm × 4.6 mm; 5 µm particle size). The mobile phase had a flow rate of 1 mL/min under isocratic conditions of water-methanol (98:2, v/v). For 0.2 mg/mL solution, the high-performance liquid chromatography assay revealed no significant losses in carboplatin concentration. However, in 0.02 mg/mL solution remaining carboplatin was > 105% the initial dose after 3 h of storage at room temperature. The ultraviolet-visible spectra analysis showed that carboplatin remained intact during the study in 0.2 mg/mL solution, but some changes were detected in 0.02 mg/mL solution. Thus, 0.2 mg/mL carboplatin solution is stable for 24 h at room temperature in 5% dextrose polypropylene infusion bags but stability could not be proved for 0.02 mg/mL solution.

surgery, but with the data available 70% of them had no recurrences.Only one of all patients had an adverse event (ocular irritation).Two patients received Bioferon ® , both with OSSN. One had complete response and the other partial response with no adverse effects. Conclusion and RelevanceWe can conclude that eye drops of interferón alfa-2b are safe and effective to treat malignant pathologies and the formulation with the new drug Bioferon seems to maintain safety and efficacy, but we need more patients to confirm it.

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BackgroundThe proper methods of storage of medicines are of great importance for the maintenance of their stability and therefore their efficacy and safety. Some factors that may affect the drug are: moisture, light, heat, air, time, bacteria and fungal growth.PurposeThe aim of the study is to research household storage habits of oral drugs dispensed by the outpatient hospital pharmacy service.Material and methodsProspective, observational study. All attendees to the outpatient pharmacy service during a period of 1 month were invited to voluntarily participate in the study. An anonymous survey was conducted including 17 items regarding sociodemographic data, knowledge about package insert conservation information content, conservation of original packaging and leaflet, place of home storage, presence of children at home, review of expiry dates and place where expired medication is discarded. Analysis of the influence of socio-demographic factors on wrong storage practices was performed by Chi-square test.ResultsOne hundred and eighty-five patients were included. Mean age (±SD) was 56 (±14.7) years. 49.7% patients did not have any studies and 50.3% had secondary or university studies. Sixty-two per cent of patients remembered to have been informed by the pharmacist about storage conditions and 53.1% knew that this information was included in the leaflet. Regarding the place of storage, 36.5% used the bedroom followed by the kitchen (33.7%), living room (36.5%) and bathroom (5.5%). Most of the patients admitted to retaining the original container (70.6%) or leaflet (68.8%). Drugs were generally stored in a closed place (79.8%), nevertheless 47% of patients admitted that it was accessible (26.5% lived with children). Some patients stored medicines inappropriately under cool conditions (9.2%) or near to a heat source (6.5%). Thirty-five per cent kept medicines that were no longer needed and 22% did not check the expiration date. 24.5% of patients threw out their medicines in the rubbish. A relationship between level of education and this behaviour was observed. The wrong practice was more frequent among patients with a high level of studies (p<0.01).ConclusionA significant proportion of patients presented an information gap regarding drug storage conditions. Several wrong storage practices were identified. There is room for improvement regarding these issues and the pharmacist’s role in patient education could be important.No conflict of interest