SECOND YEAR PHARMACY EXAMINATION PHARMACEUTICS SHORT NOTES

Answer all questions Answer each question in a separate answer book Time allowed: 1.5 hours All questions

Q1. You are a pharmaceutical scientist in a drug delivery company specialising in oral capsules dosage forms. Your company wishes to develop an oral once daily sustained release capsule of a new anti-inflammatory agent. The drug is currently available as an oral immediate release capsule at a dose of 25mg to be administered three times daily. Review the possible technologies which can be used to develop this product including a brief outline of each in your answer. Q2. Write short notes on each of the following: a) Enteric coating polymers b) Self-emulsifying drug delivery system c) Tablet porosity and hardness Q3. Disintegration and dissolution testing are part of the quality testing carried o ut on tablets. a) Review the importance of these tests in the quality testing of oral tablets. b) With reference to Noyes-Whitney equation, discuss the impact of environmental conditions on drug dissolution rate Q4. a) Distinguish between direct compression and granulation in tablet manufacture. b) The following is the formula for a tablet containing aminophylline. Comment on the level of disintegrant and lubricant used in this formulation. Ingredient Quantity per tablet (mg) Aminophylline 100 Tricalcium phosphate 60 Pre-gelatinised starch 25 Colloidal silicon dioxide 1 Magnesium stearate 3.5