• International Journal of Heart Failure
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2024

Heart failure (HF) stands as a prevalent chronic ailment, imposing a substantial burden on global healthcare systems due to recurrent hospitalizations, intricate management, persistent symptoms, and polypharmacy challenges. The augmentation of patient safety and treatment efficacy across various care stages, facilitated by a multidisciplinary HF team inclusive of a clinical pharmacist, emerges as paramount. Evidence underscores that the collaborative engagement of a physician and a clinical pharmacist engenders proficient and secure management, forestalling avoidable adversities stemming from drug reactions and prescription inaccuracies. This synergistic approach tailors treatments optimally to individual patients. Post-discharge, the vulnerability of HF patients to re-hospitalization looms large, historically holding sway as the foremost cause of 30-day readmissions. Diverse strategies have been instituted to fortify patient well-being, leading to the formulation of specialized transitional care programs that shepherd patients effectively from hospital to outpatient settings. These initiatives have demonstrably curtailed readmission rates. This review outlines a spectrum of roles assumed by clinical pharmacists within the healthcare cohort, spanning inpatient care, transitional phases, and outpatient services. Moreover, it traverses a compendium of studies spotlighting the affirmative impact instigated by integrating clinical pharmacists into these fields.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.221-229
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• 2018

Tenofovir nanoparticles are novel therapeutic intervention in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection reaching the virus in their sanctuary sites. However, there has been no systemic toxicity testing of this formulation despite global concerns on the safety of nano drugs. Therefore, this study was designed to investigate the toxicity of Tenofovir nanoparticle (NTDF) on the liver and kidney using an animal model. Fifteen adult male Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats maintained at the animal house of the biomedical resources unit of the University of KwaZulu-Natal were weighed and divided into three groups. Control animals (A) were administered with normal saline (NS). The therapeutic doses of Tenofovir (TDF) and nanoparticles of Tenofovir (NTDF) were administered to group B and C and observed for signs of stress for four weeks after which animals were weighed and sacrificed. Liver and kidney were removed and fixed in formal saline, processed and stained using H/E, PAS and MT stains for light microscopy. Serum was obtained for renal function test (RFT) and liver function test (LFT). Cellular measurements and capturing were done using ImageJ and Leica software 2.0. Data were analysed using graph pad 6, p values < 0.05 were significant. We observed no signs of behavioural toxicity and no mortality during this study, however, in the kidneys, we reported mild morphological perturbations widening of Bowman's space, and vacuolations in glomerulus and tubules of TDF and NTDF animals. Also, there was a significant elevation of glycogen deposition in NTDF and TDF animals when compared with control. In the liver, there were mild histological changes with widening of sinusoidal spaces, vacuolations in hepatocytes and elevation of glycogen deposition in TDF and NTDF administered animals. In addition to this, there were no significant differences in stereological measurements and cell count, LFT, RFT, weight changes and organo-somatic index between treatment groups and control. In conclusion, NTDF and TDF in therapeutic doses can lead to mild hepatic and renal histological damage. Further studies are needed to understand the precise genetic mechanism.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.17 no.9
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• pp.228-234
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• 2016

The aim of this study was to develop pharmaceutical dosage forms with a bi-phasic drug using a double extrusion approach. Hot melt extrusion was performed using a co-rotating twin-screw extruder. The. 1st melt extrusion was performed using polymer with a relatively higher Tg, such as HPMC and the 2nd melt extrudate was obtained using the 1st extrudate and polymers with a lower Tg, such as HPMC-AS and PEO. In addition, the formulation with all the content in the same proportion as the double extudate was produced using single extrusion for comparison. Physical characterization was performed on the formulations employing differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). In vitro release tests were studied using a USP Type-I apparatus at $37{\pm}0.5^{\circ}C$ and 100 rpm. The similarity factor (f2) was also used to check the difference statistically. The DSC results indicated that the crystallinity of ibuprofen was changed to an amorphous state after extrusion in both double and single melt extrusion. Double melt extrudate with ibuprofen showed the desired release in acidic media (pH 1.2) in the first two hours and basic (pH 6.8) during six hours. Double melt extrudate with glimepiride showed faster release in 60 min of over 80%, whereas the single extrudate with glimepiride showed retarded release due to the interaction with HPMC. The similarity factor(f2) value was 28.5, which demonstrates that there were different drug release behavior between the double and single extrusion. Consequently, the double melt extrudated formulation was robust and gave the desired drug release pattern.

• CELLMED
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.4.1-4.8
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• 2021

Background: The Unani system of medicine has been practised since centuries for the treatment of a range of diseases. In spite of their efficacy they have been widely criticised due to the lack of standardization and poor quality control. Standardization of Unani medicine is a valuable issue at the present because they are very prone to contamination, deterioration, adulteration and variation in composition due to biodiversity as well as careless collection. Objective: To Standardize and Development of HPTLC Fingerprinting of a polyherbal Unani formulation Qurs-e-Safa. Materials and methods: The conventional and modern analytical techniques were used to standardise Qurs-e-Safa. The study was carried into three different batches of Qurs-e-Safa prepared with its ingredients. The parameters studied are organoleptic, microscopic, physicochemical parameters, phytochemical screening, TLC, HPTLC profile, aflatoxin, microbial load and heavy metal analysis. Results and conclusion: Qurṣ-e-Sa'fa is dark yellow in colour and aromatic smell. Uniformity of diameter and weight variation were found to be 13 ± 0, and 524.7 ± 1.72 mg. friability, hardness and disintegration time of all 3 batches were found to be (0.0615 ± 0.004, 0.0885 ± 0.0047 and 0.0725 ± 0.0058), (3.5 ± 0.2886, 3.67 ± 0.1674 and 3.67 ± 0.1674) and (16 to 17 minutes). Extractive value were found to be maximum in distilled water (38.488 ± 0.20, 37.3824 ± 0.38 and 39.8177 ± 0.13) followed by alcohol (27.5406 ± 0.54, 27.5656 ± 0.32 and 26.9229 ± 0.25). Loss of weight on drying, pH, total ash, acid insoluble ash, qualitative test was set in. Phytochemical screening revealed the presence of Carbohydrates, Phenols, Resins, Proteins, Steroids, fixed oil and Flavonoids. The microbial load was found absent and heavy metals were within permissible limits. The data evolved from the study may serve as a reference to validate and also help in the quality control of other finished products in future research.

• The Korea Journal of Herbology
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.9-18
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• 2018

Objectives : Hwangryunhaedok-tang (HRHDT) is one of the well-known prescription herbal drugs of Korean herbal medicine, which has been widely used for the treatment of various bacterial and inflammatory diseases. This study was conducted in order to develop the tablet formulations of HRHDT and compare its efficacy with the other commercial formulations. Methods : Corresponding herbal medicines comprising of HRHDT were extracted with water for 3 hr at $95{\sim}100^{\circ}C$ and then vacuum dried. Subsequently, some pharmaceutical excipients such as microcrystalline cellulose, croscarmellose sodium, magnesium stearate, etc were used to prepare the HRHDT tablets. The contents with characterizing components of HRHDT tablet was compared with the HRHDT decoction. The contents of characterizing components were analyzed with HPLC. Furthermore, we investigated the anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative abilities of two different commercial HRHDT granules (HJP-1 and HJP-2) and were compared with that of the formulated HRHDT tablets. The anti-oxidant properties of HRHDR were studied using the 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryhydrazyl (DPPH) radical, contents of total flavonoid and polyphenol. In addition, based on this result the anti-inflammatory effects have verified by mechanism from LPS- treated Raw264.7 macrophages. Results : The results demonstrated that HRHDT tablets showed more anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative effects than HJP-1, HJP-2. Moreover, it showed more superior effects in terms of dose, usability and stability than the granules. Conclusion : Hence, we concluded that in order to improve the quality and efficacy of the Korean herbal medicine, it is necessary to develop appropriate methods and establish standardized techniques for the development of good formulations.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.255-262
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• 2011

Method using liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) was developed and validated for the determination of pregabalin in plasma samples. Acquisition was performed by monitoring the transitions: m/z 160.1${\rightarrow}$142.2 for pregabalin and m/z 423.2${\rightarrow}$207.1 for losartan (as an internal standard). After cold acetonitrileinduced protein precipitation of the plasma samples, separation was performed with C18 column by isocratic mobile phase consisted of 10 mM ammonium acetate and acetonitrile (15:85, v/v). Results were linear over the concentration ranged from 0.1 to $10{\mu}g$/mL and the correlation coefficients (r) were $\geq0.99$. Intra- and inter-day precisions were $\leq6.02$ and $\leq11.04%$, respectively, and intra- and inter-day accuracies were 96.60-101.09 and 98.10-102.60%, respectively. This validated method was successfully applied to a bioequivalence study of two formulations of pregabalin, Daewoong pregabalin capsule (Daewoong Pharm. Co., Ltd.) and Lyrica$^{(R)}$ capsule (Pfizer Korea Ltd.) in twenty eight healthy Korean volunteers. The subjects received a single oral dose of each formulation (150 mg as pregabalin) in a randomized $2{\times}2$ crossover study and plasma samples were obtained from each subject at predetermined time intervals. Then, the pharmacokinetic parameters ($AUC_{0-t}$, $C_{max}$ and $T_{max}$) were calculated and statistically analyzed to assess the differences between two formulations. The 90% confidence intervals for the log-transformed data were acceptable range of log 0.8-log 1.25 (e.g., log 1.0048-log 1.0692 for AUC0-t, log 0.9142-log 1.0421 for $C_{max}$). Thus, $AUC_{0-t}$ and $C_{max}$ met the criteria of the Korea Food and Drug Administration (KFDA) for bioequivalence test indicating that Daewoong pregabalin capsule was bioequivalent to Lyrica$^{(R)}$ capsule.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.29-36
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• 1999

Aceclofenac is an non-steroidal antiinflammatory drug which has been used in the treatment of rheumatoidal rthritis and osteo-arthritis. In order to decrease the gastric ulcerogenic effects and contol the plasma level of aceclofenac, we have developed the transdermal delivery system of aceclofenac plaster, which were formulated employing matrix polymers of acrylates and penetration-enhancers such as $Lauroglycol^{\circledR}$, $Transcutol^{\circledR}$, oleic acid and linoleic acid. Using Franz diffusion cells mounted with a rat skin, transdermal penetration characteristics of the formulations were evaluated by the HPLC assay of aceclofenac and diclofenac, an active metabolite, in the receptor compartment of pH 7.2 phosphate buffered solution. Skin penetration was increased when the content of aceclofenac increased, showing the flux $(J,\;{\mu}g/cm^2/hr)$ of 0.37 and 2.50 for 2% and 6.75% of the content, respectively. The flux$(J,\;{\mu}g/cm^2/hr)$ from plasters made of $Durotak^{\circledR}$ 87-2074, $Durotak^{\circledR}$ 87-2510 and $Durotak^{\circledR}$ 87-2097 were 2.50, 2.77 and 4.39, respectively. $Durotak^{\circledR}$ 87-2074 showed the lowest penetration due to the carboxylic acid group in the polymer, which might form a strong hydrogen bonding with a secondary amine of aceclofenac. Although both $Durotak^{\circledR}$ 87-2510 and $Durotak^{\circledR}$ 87-2097 are amine-resistant adhesives, $Durotak^{\circledR}$ 872510 showed lower penetration than $Durotak^{\circledR}$ 87-2097 because of the hydroxyl group in $Durotak^{\circledR}$ 87-2510, which might form a weak hydrogen bonding with aceclofenac. These results reveal that the functional group in acrylic polymers would greatly affect the release of aceclofenac from the matrix, which is the rate-limiting step in the penetration of aceclofenac through rat skins. The penetration of aceclofenac from plasters using different penetration-enhancers increased in the following order: Transcutol < linoleic acid < oleic acid. And the flux from the plasters containing oleic acid as a penetrationenhancer was 2.22 times greater than that of creams, which suggest that a newly deveolped aceclofenac plaster could be used in the treatment of rheumatoidal arthritis and osteo-arthritis as an advanced transdermal delivery system.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.267-275
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• 2002

A self-microemulsifying drug delivery system (SMEDDS) was developed to increase the dissolution rate, solubility, and ultimately bioavailability of a poorly water soluble drug, lovastatin. SMEDDS was thε mixtures of oils, surfactants, and cosurfactants, which emulsify under conditions of gentle agitation, similar to those which would be encountered in the gastro-intestinal (GI) tract. Various types of self-emulsifying formulations were prepared using four types of oil (Capryol 90, Lauroglycol 90, Labrafil M 1944 CS and Labrafil M 2125), two surfactants (Cremophor EL and Tween 80), and three cosurfactants (Carbitol, PEG 400 and propylene glycol). Thε efficiency of emulsification was studied using a laser diffraction size analyzer to determine particle size distributions of the resultant emulsions. Optimized formulations selected for bioavailability assessment were Carpryol 90 (40%), Cremophor EL (30%) and Carbitol (30%). SMEDDS containing lovastatin (20 mg and 5 mg) were compared to a conventional lovastatin tablet $(Mevacor^{\circledR},\;20\;mg/tab)$ by the oral administration as prefilled hard gelatin capsules to fasted beagle dogs for in vivo study. The arεa under the serum concentration-time curve from time zero to the last measured time in serum, $AUC_{0{\rightarrow}24h}$, was significantly greater in SMEDDS, suggesting that bioavailability increase 130% and 192% by the SMEDDS, respectively. The self-emulsifying formulations of lovastatin afforded the improvement in absolute oral bioavailability relative to previous data of lovastatin tablet formulation. These data indicate the utility of dispersed self-emulsifying formulations for the oral delivery of lovastatin and potentially other poorly absorbed drugs.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.167-172
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• 2000

The purpose of this study is to develop a transurethral liquid suppository containing prostaglandin $E_1\;(PGE_1)-loaded$ microemulsion, which undergoes a phase transition to gels at body temperature. The effects of oils, ethanol as solvent and HCl as pH-controlling agent on the physicochemical properties of liquid suppositories composed of poloxamer P 407, P 188 and carbopol was investigated. The stability of $PGE_1$ and release of $PGE_1$ from liquid suppository were evaluated. Oils such as Neobee and soybean oil significantly decreased the gelation temperature but increased the gel strength of liquid suppository due to their strongly binding with the components of liquid suppository base. However, ethanol slightly did the opposite. The pH of liquid suppositories hardly affected the gelation temperature and gel strength due to addition of very small HCl (0.005-0.01%). A liquid suppository [$PGE_1/P$ 407/P 188/carbopol/Neobee/ethanol/HCl (0.2/14/14/0.4/7/2/0.005%)], which had the gelation temperature $(34.2{\pm}0.6^{\circ}C)$ and gel strength $(31.35{\pm}4.37\;sec)$ suitable for liquid suppository system, was easily administered and not leak out from the body. About 60% of $PGE_1$ was released out within 2 h from this formulation. It was shown that the release of $PGE_1$ was proportional to the square root of time, indicating that $PGE_1$ might be released from the suppository by Fickian diffusion. It was stable at $4^{\circ}C$ for at least 2 months. The results suggest that transurethral liquid suppository containing prostaglandin $E_1-loaded$ microemulsion is thought to be a convenient, safe and effective dosage form for $PGE_1$. However, it should be further developed as a more convenient and stable dosage form for $PGE_1$.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.191-196
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• 2011

In this study simple and sensitive high performance liquid chromatographic method using a commercially available column, was developed and validated for the determination of zolpidem tartrate in human plasma. The developed method with suitable validation was applied to a bioequivalence study of two different kinds of zolpidem tartrate. Two different formulations containing 10 mg of zolpidem tartate (CAS : 99294-93-6) were compared in 24 healthy male volunteers in order to compare the bioavailability and prove the bioequivalence. The study was performed in an open, single dose randomized, 2-sequence, cross-over design in 24 healthy male volunteers with a one-week washout period. Blood samples for pharmacokinetic profiling were drawn at selected times during 12 h. The mean $AUC_{0-12h}$, $C_{max}$, $T_{max}$ and $T_{1/2}$ were $676.6{\pm}223.4$ $ng{\cdot}h{\cdot}mL^{-1}$, $177.4{\pm}34.2$ $ng{\cdot}mL^{-1}$, and $0.8{\pm}0.4$ and $3.5{\pm}2.1$, respectively, for the test formulations, and $640.7{\pm}186.6$ $ng{\cdot}h{\cdot}mL^{-1}$, $193.0{\pm}64.5$ $ng{\cdot}mL^{-1}$, and $0.9{\pm}0.4$ and $2.7{\pm}0.9$, respectively, for the reference formulation. Both primary target parameters $AUC_{0-12h}$ and $C_{max}$ were log-transformed and tested parametrically by analysis of variance (ANOVA). 90% confidence intervals of $AUC_{0-12h}$ and $C_{max}$ were in the range of acceptable limits of bioequivalence (80-125%). Based on these results, the two formulations of zolpidem tartate are considered to be bioequivalent.