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Pneumatic tube transport of trastuzumab in IV bags—Effect of headspace and surfactant on subvisible particle formation

Kjellström, Anna LU orcid ; Cederwall, Ida ; Martínez, Clàudia Sabaté ; Kwok, Stanley ; Rosenthal, Florian ; Elofsson, Ulla ; Paulsson, Mattias and Wahlgren, Marie LU orcid (2025) In Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences 114(2). p.1142-1151
Abstract

In hospitals, IV bags can be prepared in advance for logistical and microbial safety reasons in a compounding unit and then transported to wards. Transport of protein drugs using a pneumatic tube system has been reported to result in high particle levels. In this study, pneumatic tube transport of trastuzumab in saline polyolefin bags was compared to delivery by hospital porters using an electric platform truck in an underground tunnel system. The transport was tracked using designed smart labels. Two strategies to prevent particle formation, removing headspace and adding the surfactant polysorbate 20 were evaluated. The transport by pneumatic tube had a higher level of shock and vibration than truck delivery. The total particle count... (More)

In hospitals, IV bags can be prepared in advance for logistical and microbial safety reasons in a compounding unit and then transported to wards. Transport of protein drugs using a pneumatic tube system has been reported to result in high particle levels. In this study, pneumatic tube transport of trastuzumab in saline polyolefin bags was compared to delivery by hospital porters using an electric platform truck in an underground tunnel system. The transport was tracked using designed smart labels. Two strategies to prevent particle formation, removing headspace and adding the surfactant polysorbate 20 were evaluated. The transport by pneumatic tube had a higher level of shock and vibration than truck delivery. The total particle count measured using flow microscopy also increased more for pneumatic transport than for transport by vehicle. Removing the headspace decreased particle formation for both transports. Surfactant decreases particles over 10 µm for trastuzumab in saline IV bags but increases the total particle levels. Pneumatic tube transport of saline in polyolefin bags resulted in high particle levels and surfactant increased the total particle count. Removing headspace is a measure that can be incorporated into compounding practices to cover for inadequate surfactant levels in IV bags.

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author
; ; ; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
AI, Headspace, IV bags, Mechanical stress, Monoclonal antibody, Pneumatic tube system PTS, Protein, Subvisible particles, Surfactant, Transport
in
Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences
volume
114
issue
2
pages
10 pages
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • pmid:39793760
  • scopus:85215386172
ISSN
0022-3549
DOI
10.1016/j.xphs.2024.12.003
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
Publisher Copyright: © 2025 The Authors
id
ec7cba1b-2e33-4f0e-a814-5f1f8512e268
date added to LUP
2025-03-16 14:22:29
date last changed
2025-07-07 09:03:02
@article{ec7cba1b-2e33-4f0e-a814-5f1f8512e268,
  abstract     = {{<p>In hospitals, IV bags can be prepared in advance for logistical and microbial safety reasons in a compounding unit and then transported to wards. Transport of protein drugs using a pneumatic tube system has been reported to result in high particle levels. In this study, pneumatic tube transport of trastuzumab in saline polyolefin bags was compared to delivery by hospital porters using an electric platform truck in an underground tunnel system. The transport was tracked using designed smart labels. Two strategies to prevent particle formation, removing headspace and adding the surfactant polysorbate 20 were evaluated. The transport by pneumatic tube had a higher level of shock and vibration than truck delivery. The total particle count measured using flow microscopy also increased more for pneumatic transport than for transport by vehicle. Removing the headspace decreased particle formation for both transports. Surfactant decreases particles over 10 µm for trastuzumab in saline IV bags but increases the total particle levels. Pneumatic tube transport of saline in polyolefin bags resulted in high particle levels and surfactant increased the total particle count. Removing headspace is a measure that can be incorporated into compounding practices to cover for inadequate surfactant levels in IV bags.</p>}},
  author       = {{Kjellström, Anna and Cederwall, Ida and Martínez, Clàudia Sabaté and Kwok, Stanley and Rosenthal, Florian and Elofsson, Ulla and Paulsson, Mattias and Wahlgren, Marie}},
  issn         = {{0022-3549}},
  keywords     = {{AI; Headspace; IV bags; Mechanical stress; Monoclonal antibody; Pneumatic tube system PTS; Protein; Subvisible particles; Surfactant; Transport}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{2}},
  pages        = {{1142--1151}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences}},
  title        = {{Pneumatic tube transport of trastuzumab in IV bags—Effect of headspace and surfactant on subvisible particle formation}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.xphs.2024.12.003}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.xphs.2024.12.003}},
  volume       = {{114}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}