The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) released an update to the 2004 sample list of hazardous drugs. The 2010 list supersedes the 2004 list and includes 21 additional drugs.  According to ASHP [1990] the definition of hazardous drugs:1. Carcinogenicity 2. Teratogenicity or other developmental toxicity 3. Reproductive toxicity4. Organ toxicity at low doses 5. Genotoxicity 6. Structure and toxicity profiles of new drugs that mimic existing drugs determined hazardous by the above criteria. For the 2010 list of hazardous drugs, click here.

The NIOSH cautions that the list may not be all inclusive and recommend that each organization should create its own list of drugs considered to be hazardous. This perhaps explains why sometimes I notice a drug not on the hazardous list is considered hazardous by one organization but not by another.  In my experience, many oncology infusion centers follow the precautions recommended for hazardous drugs for all drugs they administer regardless of classification in a effort to standardize handling practices.

When a  drug is hazardous, various precautions should be applied when handling the drug.  For the recommended precautions, click here.