The purpose of in-use stability testing is to establish a period of time during which a multiple-dose drug product may be used while retaining acceptable quality specifications once the container is opened (e.g., after a container has been needle-punctured). For multiple-dose injectable drug products intended for use in humans, there is a volume limit of 30 mL in the multiple-dose container. There is also a 28 day in-use period associated with multiple-dose injectable drug products intended for use in humans unless otherwise labeled, when supported by successful antimicrobial effectiveness testing (AET) per U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention (USP) <51> Antimicrobial Effectiveness Testing. Multiple-dose injectable animal drug products have no volume limit and are often packaged in much larger containers. In addition, some animal species weigh less than humans and, thus, individual doses are often smaller than those used in humans. As such, more punctures and a longer in-use period may be applicable to multiple-dose injectable animal drug products compared with their human counterparts. CVM recommends that all multiple-dose injectable animal drug products have an in-use statement on the labeling. This document serves to provide CVM’s current thinking on how to formulate in-use statements for multiple-dose injectable animal drug products as well as how to design and carry out in-use stability studies to support these in-use statements.

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