In recent years there has been a growing wish for national collaboration with respect to the production of cytotoxic drug preparations in order to increase efficiency and standardisation to meet increased demand from the wards.

This collaboration has focused on the differences in physical − chemical stability of a cytotoxic drug preparation, prepared at different production sites, and has raised the question of how to obtain uniformly acceptable data for assessment of the shelf life of a cytotoxic drug preparation.

In Denmark, all 10 hospital pharmacies with their own qualified person prepare cytotoxic drugs for hospital wards. In some cases this results in different opinions on how to assess the physical − chemical stability of a cytotoxic drug preparation. This is causing confusion and annoyance among ward staff, as well as different conditions for running production units, and ultimately differences in cost effectiveness.

Generally, the production units in Denmark are equipped in …