Evaluation of Commercial Metronidazole Tablets

Abstract

Six commercial brands of metronidazole tablets from different manufacturers were elected for this study. The tablets were evaluated using the official and non-official tests of U.S.P. XX. These tests include: uniformity of weight, hardness, friability, disintegration time and dissolution rate. The results obtained showed that most of these brands passed the U.S.P. requirements. The dissolution rate studies showed a great differences in drug release characteristics between brands and also between batches of the same brand. Studies on drug content for each metronidazole brand showed a great variation between the brands and to a less extent within the different batches of the same brand. For the intense bitter taste of metronidazole, a trial was done to prepare it in the form of capsule. The dissolution rate of such capsule was much better than all the commercial tablets studied.