Medicines VS Supplements

By Kamaldip Gill
What Was My Project About?
Determining whether there any differences in quality
between medicine and supplement tablets

Also, if any differences were more pronounced after

tablet splitting

Supplements fall outside of MHRA jurisdiction

Expect medicinal tablets to be of greater quality

What Did I Do?
I chose: 2 medicinal tablets
Paracetamol 500mg caplets
Lisinopril 10mg tablets
3 supplements
Folic acid 400ug tablets
Vitamin C 250mg tablets
Echinacea 400mg tablets

I performed SIX tablet tests, BEFORE AND AFTER splitting

BP Limits

Statistical Analysis
The Tests
Uniformity Of Content BP limits: Success if:
LESS THAN TWO tablets content is more than +/- 15% of
average content
AND
NO tablets content is more than +/- 25% of average content

Uniformity Of Weight BP limits: Success if:

LESS THAN THREE tablets weight is more than 5-10% average
mass (depends on the average tablet mass)
AND
NO tablets weight is more than twice the allowable value

Uniformity Of Size
The Tests
Disintegration BP limits: Success if:
ALL tablets disintegrate in less than 15 minutes

Friability BP limits: Success if:

NO cracks or breakages
AND
LESS THAN 1% loss in total tablets mass

Mechanical Strength
What Did I Find?
BP Tests
For whole tablets, there was only one failure, which was the vitamin c tablets failing the
disintegration test
For half tablets, paracetamol, vitamin c and echinacea failed the uniformity of weight test

Statistical Analysis
For whole tablets, supplements showed significantly greater weight variation and
disintegration time
For half tablets, supplements again showed significantly greater weight variation and
disintegration time and also a lower average mechanical strength
For all other tests, although no significant differences were observed, supplements
generally showed higher values in variation

General Observations
Tablet splitting always showed an increase in variation in each test
Echinacea tablets were most fragile
Conclusion Medicines Win By KO
From the results of the study, supplements were
unable to match medicines in terms of quality

There is reason to advocate a more extensive

regulatory process in supplements

Tablet splitting enhances any

pre-existing variations within
tablets
Limitations
Results cant be generalized as only a limited number of
tablet types were studied
The same user was employed to perform every single
tablet test
The user also improved at performing the tests through
repetition
Medicinal tablets were both scored and the supplements
were not (Supplements not usually scored, one a day)
Tablet splitter used only, other forms of splitting, such as
by hand or knife, may have yielded different results
Thank You