Dissolution Testing Accessories

The administration of drugs via oral dosage forms is one of the most common and effective means of delivering treatments to patients. When a dosage form is swallowed, the rate at which it releases the active ingredient is critical to ensure that the drug is delivered properly. The rate at which the drug is released is called the dissolution rate.

In fact, all drug forms have a dissolution rate. Creams, skin patches and implants and others, all release their drugs so they can be taken up by the body.

One of the problems facing pharmaceutical manufacturers is to how optimise the amount of drug available to the body, i.e. itsbioavailability. Inadequacies in bioavailability can mean that the treatment is ineffective and at worst potentially dangerous (toxic overdose). All kinds of factors affect this from the formulation of the dosage form, size, shape, excipients, bindings and other physical characteristics, to the pH, temperature and so on.

The actual drug release in the human body can be measuredin-vivoby measuring the plasma or urine concentrations in the patient. However, there are certain obvious impracticalities involved in employing such techniques on a routine basis. These difficulties have led to the introduction of officialin-vitrotests which are now rigorously and comprehensively defined in the respective Pharmacopoeia and recent harmonisation between the various Pharmacopoeia (notably the USP, BP, EP and JP) has lead to global standardisation in the measurement of drug release rates