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. 2019 Oct;85(10):2428-2435.
doi: 10.1111/bcp.14064. Epub 2019 Aug 1.

Cancer chemotherapy drug wastage in a tertiary care hospital in India-A 3-month prospective and 1-year retrospective study

M G Gopisankar  1 , Julie Wahlang  1 , Vikas Jagtap  2 , Chayna Sarkar  1 , L Purnima Devi  2 , Caleb Harris  3
Affiliations

Cancer chemotherapy drug wastage in a tertiary care hospital in India-A 3-month prospective and 1-year retrospective study

M G Gopisankar et al. Br J Clin Pharmacol. 2019 Oct.

Abstract

This study prospectively quantified wastage of cancer chemotherapeutic drugs in an oncology unit to find the associated cost in 3 months. Retrospective analysis of drug usage for 12 months was also conducted to determine the expected drug loss in 1 year. The effect of vial sharing was evaluated under the assumption of sharing. A significant drug wastage of 19.72% (95% confidence interval [CI], 14.52-24.93%) in 3 months and 17.14% (95% CI 14.69-19.59%) in 1 year occurred in our oncology unit. Number of vials purchased (r = 0.362, p < 0.01), weight (r = -0.146, P < .01) and body surface area (r = -0.26, P < .01) correlated with the drug wasted. Vial sharing assumption showed a 9% (95% CI, 2.5-15.5%) reduction in cost in 1 year.

Keywords: Cancer; chemotherapy; health economics; health services research; oncology.

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Conflict of interest statement

There are no competing interests to declare.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Histograms of wastage (mg/administration) by drug (frequency of administrations). SD, standard deviation
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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