Eye injections got contaminated during refilling, transportation of vials: report

LAHORE: The analysis of ophthalmic drug reaction upon patients revealed contamination in vials during and after refilling/ transportation of Avastin injection.

“The 10-member committee, constituted to investigate the incidence, received analysis reports of six patients, which found contamination during and after refilling of the medicine,” confirmed Prof Dr Asad Aslam Khan, Professor (retd) of Ophthalmology, King Edward Medical University and member of the committee.

The patients’ reports, on the face of it, have minimised the chances of contamination in original drug, manufactured/ imported by multinational pharmaceutical company, which, however, will only be ruled out after drug examination report by the Drug Testing Laboratory (DTL), Lahore, expected in few days.

Avastin injection (bevacizumab), available in 100mg/ 4ml packs, is primarily meant for cancer patients, but was effective in small quantity to prevent blindness among diabetes patients. As diabetes patients require only 1.25mg/ 0.05ml dose, one pack is converted into up to 80 doses by refilling in small syringes. The drug was being supplied from Lahore to other districts including Multan, Rahim Yar Khan and Sadiqabad via passenger bus companies’ courier services and bike ride apps. Dr Asad said that Avastin injection should be kept at 2 to 8 degree Celsius and administered to the patient within 6 hours of its refilling. “The safety of medicine was not ensured during refilling and transportation,” he added.

Meanwhile, the inspection teams, constituted by the committee, have also inspected two facilities of Layton Rahmatullah Benevolent Trust (LRBT), an NGO working to fight blindness, in Lahore and confiscated the material. The committee has also entrusted the responsibility upon Punjab Healthcare Commission (PHC) to inspect LRBT’s facilities in other districts of Punjab.