GPPG Formulary

Formulary of Extemporaneous Oral Liquid Medications

Updated Summer 2018

The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists published an online list of compounded oral liquid medications in July 2017.¹  The GPPG subsequently updated their list to the national standard concentrations.  Also, some medications were adjusted or removed due to product availability.  If you would like further information, email Dr. Lisa Lubsch at llubsch@siue.edu.

ASHP Standardize 4 Safety Initiative.  Compounded Oral Liquid Version 1.01.  Accessed 2018 August 1.  Available from: https://www.ashp.org/-/media/assets/pharmacy-practice/s4s/docs/s4s-ashp-oral-compound-liquids.ashx?la=en&hash=028B831C95AC172275549AA6A47D5E8399D108D9

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The contents of this website are freely available to you to improve medication safety relative to compounded oral liquid medications. The formulations endorsed on this site have been reviewed and approved by the pharmacist members of the Gateway Pediatric Pharmacy Group (GPPG). GPPG has five member organizations: Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital, Children’s Hospital of Illinois at OSF Saint Francis Medical Center, Mercy Children’s Hospital, Ranken-Jordan Pediatric Bridge Hospital, and St. Louis Children’s Hospital.     

This project began in Spring 2015, when each of the five hospitals contributed their oral liquid formulary. Dr. Kyle Dillon organized this work as his capstone project for the PharmD program at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUe) School of Pharmacy, class of 2016. His preceptor was Dr. Lisa Lubsch. Dr. Dillon collated the formulations from the five GPPG institutions and State of Michigan’s similar compendium of approved oral liquid formulations.1 There were a large number of formulations where agreement was already achieved. This work was presented in poster form at the Pediatric Pharmacy Advocacy Group annual meeting in Minneapolis in May 2015.2 In July 2015, the entire GPPG membership developed a plan for reviewing all 80 formulations on which we wished to standardize. We discussed the criteria for a preferred oral liquid formulation. The criteria were:  concentration, (which drives dose to dose volume relationship), taste, dating, strength of data supporting stability, ease of compounding, absence of unusual source product or diluents and other criteria. We reviewed our list in four groups, divided loosely by therapeutic class, on conference calls every 3-4 weeks. Each GPPG member hospital had one or two pharmacists on the calls. Some asked both an inpatient and outpatient pharmacist to be involved. Discussion points were documented on a color coded spreadsheet. Two members, Mrs. Amber Brunworth and Dr. Julie McCabe, assumed the difficult job of research and documentation. The SIUe School of Pharmacy supported the effort with telecommunication support and hosting this summary.  In April 2016, the final formulary was presented in both podium and poster format at the PPAG annual meeting in Atlanta.3

Every effort has been taken to proof read this document, but prudent professional practice by pharmacists who use this source would require calculations to be verified prior to using these formulations.  

Questions about the formulations may be addressed to Dr. Lisa Lubsch at llubsch@siue.edu.

Members of the GPPG working group on oral liquid formulations, by institution:

Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital
Julie McCabe, PharmD
Dave Levin, BS Pharm

Children’s Hospital of Illinois at OSF Saint Francis Medical Center
Julie Kasap, PharmD

Mercy Children’s Hospital
Kelly Burch, PharmD
Rachel Chkautovich, PharmD
Debbie Schuehler, PharmD

Ranken-Jordan Pediatric Bridge Hospital
Amber Brunworth, BS Pharm

St. Louis Children’s Hospital
Cortney Rogers, PharmD, BCPPS

1. Michigan Pediatric Safety Collaboration.  State-wide Imitative to Standardize the Compounding of Oral Liquids in Pediatrics.  Accessed 2016 July 6.  Available from: http://www.mipedscompounds.org/
2. Dillon K, Lubsch L, Burch K. A Comparison of Extemporaneous Oral Liquid Formulations amongst the Five Hospitals of the Gateway Pediatric Pharmacy Group and Michigan Pediatric Safety Collaboration. 24th Annual Pediatric Pharmacy Advocacy Group Conference; Minneapolis, Minnesota, May 2015.
3. Dillon K, Lubsch L, Burch K. The Development of an Evidenced-Based, Standardized Formulary of Pediatric Extemporaneous Oral Liquids for the Gateway Pediatric Pharmacy Group. 25th Annual Pediatric Pharmacy Advocacy Group Conference; Atlanta, Georgia, May 2016.