Compatibility and stability of drug mixtures: An overview

The use of the subcutaneous route for the administration of medications in Palliative Care (PC) is a very interesting route when the oral route is not available. The use of infusers for continuous infusion allows the control of symptoms in a simple way. In many cases it is necessary to administer more than one drug, so mixing them in the same infuser is the best alternative. However, there are few published data on the stability of mixtures, and even less if we focus on data on the physicochemical stability of drug mixtures in infuser-type delivery systems and stored in conditions of temperature and light similar to those of practice assistance. The objective of this review is to analyze the available evidence on the stability of the mixtures identified through bibliographic review in tertiary sources (Technical file, book Trissel's Stability of Compounded Formulation, Micromedex, stabilis.org, pallcare.info and palliativedrugs.com). This consultation is completed with a bibliographic search in the main biomedical databases: EMBASE and Pub Med and with a review of the primary sources of interest resulting from the previous search.