Purpose

In many cases, the use of drugs and chemicals in laboratory animals requires that a mixture be made. For example, ketamine and xylazine are frequently used by being made into a solution for an injection into animals. Or, alternately, drugs may need to be diluted in sterile saline prior to use.

Action

1. When making a mixture of drugs and/or chemicals in laboratory animals, documentation must be kept as to the identity of each individual drug/chemical used and their respective lot numbers and expiration dates.

2. If you are making drug mixtures (e.g., a working solution from stock) and plan to store the mixture for longer than the day it is made, mixtures must be made in a sterile container with a septum for re-use, such as sterile vials from Fisher Scientific or equivalent.  Alternately, a tube such as a vacutainer tube can be used; however, the stopper must be kept in and the drug mixture accessed by a needle using sterile technique (e.g., wipe septum with70% ethanol before obtaining mixture).  Sterile vacutainer tubes will be provided by Environmental Health & Safety should you choose to use that option.

3. If you are making a drug mixture and will use the entirety of it the day it is made, you can make your drug mixture in any sterile container (e.g., 15-ml Falcon Tube) as long as it is discarded that day.

4. Each mixture must be assigned an expiration date.  The expiration date will be the shortest expiration date of all drugs/chemicals used in the mixture, the expiration date of the sterile container used to make the solution, OR 1 month, whichever is soonest.

5. When storing expired controlled drugs in your laboratory, waiting for disposal with Environmental Health & Safety, the word “EXPIRED” must be on all containers.

 

Effective Dates:   December 7, 2023 through December 31, 2026