ABSTRACT
Objective: Five commercial brands were analyzed with respect to their physical characters, chemical content, and drug release. Methods: The brands of metformin were randomly selected. All the groups were coded and analyzed. The tablets were examined for their shape, size, weight, and color and the tablets were tested for their friability, disintegration, drug content, and purity using standard procedures. Results and discussion: On physical inspection, Brand C 500 was is the smallest and Brand D 500 SR was the largest in size. Brand C 500 was lesser in weight while Brand E XR 500 weighed more. On purity test, all other brands passed the standard for purity. All the brands had loss in weight less than 1% after the friability test. On chemical content examination, variation was seen between the batches as well as the brands. The brands such as Brand A XL 500 and Brand D 500 SR contained the required content. But the brands like Brand C 500 and Brand E XR 500 had only lesser content and failed in the validity test. Conclusion: The physical properties of the five brands of metformin tablets were analyzed. Sustained release dosage form was mainly designed for maintaining therapeutic blood or tissue levels of the drug for extended period of time. Apart from the color and shape, the weight and size are very important to improve patients’ compliance. It is the duty of the pharmaceutical company to manufacture proper dosage forms to achieve the therapeutic goal.
ABSTRACT
Achalasia cardia is a neuromuscular disorder of the oesophagus, characterized by abnormal oesophageal motility and failure of lower esophageal sphincter relaxation. It usually manifests in the fourth and fifth decades of life. It is unusual in childhood and is extremely rare under the age of one year. We report a 7-month-old child with oesophageal achalasia treated with laparoscopic Heller’s oesophagomyotomy.