Reducing steps in IV bag reconstitution

Pharmaceutical & Medical Packaging News staff

West Pharmaceutical Services has developed a needle-free transfer system for reconstituting lyophilized or powdered drugs into an IV bag. The Vial2Bag allows reconstitution to be performed through the IV set port, avoiding multiple needle insertions and steps typically required to reconstitute a drug and transfer it to an IV bag.

The Vial2Bag addresses safety risks and variability issues. “Reconstitution and administration with a needle is variable and can increase chances of needlestick injury. Drug manufacturers typically overfill vials to compensate for the inherent difficulties of ensuring optimum drug removal with a manual method,” says Graham Reynolds, vice president, reconstitution and transfer systems, West Pharmaceutical Services.

“Replacement bags with preattached connection systems for connecting to the drug vial are available on the market. However, we have found that customers prefer to use their standard bag. The Vial2Bag allows you to connect any vial or syringe to any IV bag and reconstitute or transfer drugs through the IV spike port,” Reynolds says.

The assembled Vial2Bag system includes a spike for insertion into the IV set port on the bag, a breakoff feature similar to that found on many bags to allow insertion of a standard IV infusion set, and a resealable and swabbable connector port. Vials with vial adapters or syringes with luer-cone or luer-lock features can be attached to the connector port to allow access to the bag. After the drug is reconstituted, a tamper-evident cover is removed from the end of the device for IV set insertion.

“The spike end of the device reproduces the standard spike on any infusion set, and also allows for any such set to be connected. This allows access to the bag for taking the diluent out, and, in the case of a vial, reconstituting directly from the bag into the vial, and then flushing everything back into the bag. This process ensures that 100% of the drug is delivered into the bag,” Reynolds says.

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