NIOSH Publishes Updated List of Hazardous Drugs in Healthcare Settings
NIOSH has announced the publication of “NIOSH List of Antineoplastic and Other Hazardous Drugs in Healthcare Settings 2010,” which can be found at http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/2010-167/. Since September 2004 when an earlier document was published, NIOSH says that approximately 60 new drugs have received FDA approval and approximately 60 drugs have received special warnings (usually black box warnings) based on reported adverse effects in patients. An additional 18 drugs were included from the updated NIH Hazardous Drug List. From this list of approximately 150 drugs, 62 drugs were determined to have one or more characteristic of a hazardous drug and published for comment in NIOSH Docket Number 105. After expert panel review, public review and comment, input from stakeholders and review of the scientific literature NIOSH proposed a second, draft list of hazardous drugs that was published in NIOSH Docket 105A. The second, draft list identified 24 drugs that fit the NIOSH definition of hazardous drugs. The second draft list also proposed removing Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG), based on additional comments received by NIOSH. Following the second Federal Register Notice, BCG was reinstated to the list and a total of 21 new drugs were added to the 2004 list in Appendix A of the Alert. http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2010/2010-23239.htm