Office of Research Administration

Ordering and Receiving Controlled Substances

The purchase of controlled substances generally follows the steps given below:

  1. The particular controlled substance required for research (and permitted by the Principal Investigator's DEA Registration and Mass DPH License) may be checked with regard to concentration, volume, form and price through use of the vendor website. The vendors currently used by Brandeis University are:

Please note that controlled substances cannot be ordered on a P-card.

In order for the License Holder and authorized laboratory personnel to purchase controlled substances, an account must be established with the vendor for the License Holder before any order may be made.

Any questions regarding vendors, License Holder accounts and the purchase of controlled substances may be directed to the Controlled Substances Office or the Procurement Department.

  1. A requisition form for the Procurement Department is completed; the order may also include non-controlled substances.
  1. An additional form, the Controlled Substances Purchase Request Form (pdf), is completed if any ordered drug(s) fall within Schedules III to V of the Controlled Substances Act. Both the requisition and Controlled Substance Purchase Request Form are sent to Procurement.
  1. Procurement will then approve the requisition, generate a Purchase Order number (PO#), and notify both the laboratory contact and the Controlled Substances Office of the PO#.
  1. The Controlled Substances Office will place the order to the specified vendor, using the License Holder's account number, the aforementioned PO#, and accompanying information from the requisition. Any changes made in the order regarding drug brand, concentration, price, the Order Confirmation Number, and expected date of arrival will be relayed to both the laboratory (to the PI or a designated lab contact) and the Procurement Department.

Any questions regarding the placement of the order can be directed to the Controlled Substances Office.

After arrival of the controlled substances at Brandeis Laboratory Supplies Receiving, an Authorized User from the requisitioning laboratory will sign for and receive the drugs, transfer those materials into the appropriate laboratory drug cabinet and record the receipt of the drugs into the Index of Usage Log (pdf) within the Controlled Substances Notebook.