Abstract
The etoposide, doxorubicin hydrochloride, vincristine sulphate, cyclophosphamide and prednisone (EPOCH) chemotherapy regimen is effective in patients with relapsed or refractory non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. However, vincristine and doxorubicin hydrochloride are relatively toxic, leading to neurovirulence and cardiotoxicity, respectively. In this study, we replaced these drugs with vindesine and epirubicin hydrochloride to reduce the cardiotoxicity and evaluated admixtures containing these drugs along with etoposide in a single infusion bag in vitro. The appearance and pH of the admixtures were evaluated, and the number of particles was detected. High-performance liquid chromatography was used to measure the concentration and degradation rates of etoposide, epirubicin hydrochloride and vindesine sulphate in each admixture. No precipitation occurred when mixing clinically relevant concentrations of etoposide, epirubicin hydrochloride and vindesine sulphate in a 0.9% NaCl injection solution. Furthermore, the delta pH of the admixtures was ≤0.12 throughout the experiment, and the number of particles (≥10 and ≥25μm) in the solutions over the 24hours post-preparation period met USP standards. Etoposide, epirubicin hydrochloride and vindesine sulphate were retained at >96% of their initial concentrations in the admixtures at 25°C over the course of the experiment. Etoposide, epirubicin hydrochloride and vindesine sulphate are compatible when mixed in a 0.9% NaCl injection solution, and the admixtures are stable for at least 24hours when stored in infusion bags. This in vitro analysis indicates the suitability of our novel admixtures containing less toxic drug equivalents in a single infusion bag for clinical application.
Published Version
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