A variety of terms have been used to describe the potency of bleomycin over the years. Improvements in purification have resulted in confusing terms.
Dosing bleomycin in terms of absolute weight in mg is potentially confusing and should be avoided by a nonexpert.
Terms in use:
(1) milligram-potency, with 1 mg potency equaling 1 USP unit
(2) international unit (IU) according to the British and European Pharmacopoeia, with 1,000 IU equal to 1 unit USP
Bleomycin dosing should be performed only by experts.
