Qualitative and quantitative measures of various compounded formulations of 17-alpha hydroxyprogesterone caproate

Objective: 17-alpha hydroxyprogesterone caproate (17-OHPC) is available both as an Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved medication and as a product prepared for individual patients by compounding pharmacies. Compounding pharmacies may omit the preservative that is used in the FDA-approved formulation or use an alternate preservative and may dispense 17-OHPC in containers that differ from the FDA-approved product. The objective of this study was to assess the stability and the microbiologic and pyrogen status of 17-OHPC formulations under various compounding and dispensing conditions.

Study design: 17-OHPC was prepared by a local compounding pharmacy. The formulations that were prepared included 1 identical to the FDA-approved product with benzyl alcohol as a preservative, 1 with benzalkonium chloride as a preservative, and 1 without a preservative. These various formulations were dispensed into either single-dose 1-mL plastic syringes or glass vials or 10-mL glass vials. The concentration of 17-OHPC and microbial and pyrogen status were evaluated at various time intervals over the ensuing 19 weeks.

Results: The concentration of 17-OHPC did not change over the duration of study, regardless of the dispensing medium that was used or the absence or presence of any preservatives. The preparations remained microbe- and pyrogen-free during the study period, regardless of the dispensing medium that was used or the absence of presence of any preservatives.

Conclusion: Products that contained 17-OHPC tested in this study were quite stable over the 19-week period of study in different dispensing containers and in the absence or presence of a different preservative. The compounded products remained sterile and pyrogen-free during the period of observation.