Quality Assessment Of Selected Analgesics Circulating In Liberia
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Abstract
The study was undertaken to determine the level of counterfeit/substandard medicines circulating in Liberia, using selected analgesic as a surrogate. It is widely assumed that there are a lot of fake and counterfeit medicines in circulation in Liberia. The present study aimed at determining quality of Paracetamol, Aspirin, Ibuprofen, and Diclofenac tablets in circulation on the Liberian market. Employing qualitative and quantitative parameters using visual inspection, uniformity of weight test, disintegration test, thin layer chromatography, volumetric and UV-Spectrophotometric methods. Visual inspections showed all the samples were appropriately labeled and packaged. All the samples passed the Uniformity of weight and Disintegration tests. The presence of degraded/related substances was confirmed in one brand of Paracetamol representing 7.14% of total samples. The percent drug content analysis showed that the following percentages of each sample did not comply with their respective pharmacopeia specifications, Paracetamol, 21.43%, Aspirin 36.36%, Ibuprofen 30.00% and Diclofenac 30.00%, since all the samples are used as surrogate, the average non-complying sample or failure to meet specification is 29.50%.
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