RESUMO
BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES: The aim of the present study is to investigate the physicochemical equivalence of seven brands of tablets containing chloroquine phosphate, an antimalarial purchased from different retail pharmacy outlets. METHODS: The quality and physicochemical equivalence of seven different brands of chloroquine phosphate tablets were assessed. The assessment included the evaluation of uniformity of weight, friability, crushing strength, disintegration and dissolution tests as well as chemical assay of the tablets. RESULTS: All the seven brands of the tablets passed the British Pharmacopoeia (BP) standards for uniformity of weight, disintegration and crushing strength. One of seven brands failed the friability test. One of the brands did not comply with the standard assay of content of active ingredients. Dissolution test passes the pharmacopoeial standards for chloroquine phosphate tablets. There were no significant differences in the amounts of chloroquine phosphate released from the different brands. INTERPRETATION & CONCLUSION: Out of the seven brands of anti-malarial chloroquine phosphate tablets only one brand fails to meet BP quality specifications which shows constant market monitoring of new products to ascertain their equivalency to pharmacopoeial standards.