What is the Role of Over 100 Excipients in Over the Counter (OTC) Cough Medicines?
- PDF / 502,790 Bytes
- 8 Pages / 595.276 x 790.866 pts Page_size
- 87 Downloads / 174 Views
STATE OF THE ART REVIEW
What is the Role of Over 100 Excipients in Over the Counter (OTC) Cough Medicines? Ronald Eccles1 Received: 28 June 2020 / Accepted: 20 August 2020 © The Author(s) 2020
Abstract Most medicines are white bitter powders that are formulated as tablets and capsules but cough medicines are an exception where the taste and appearance of the medicine are more important to the patient than the pharmacology of the active ingredient. Excipients are generally defined as any ingredient in a medicine other than the active ingredient. In most medicines excipients play a supportive role in delivering the medicine, but in the case of cough medicines, excipients have more important and complex roles and they can also be the main active ingredient of the cough medicine as menthol, glycerol, and sugars, which are declared as active ingredients. This review searched the United Kingdom electronic medicines compendium (emc) and found over 100 excipients in 60 different liquid formulations of over the counter cough medicines. The excipients were divided into functional groups: sweeteners, thickeners, flavors, colors, antimicrobials, and buffers, and the incidence and function of the different excipients is discussed. When considering the efficacy of a cough medicine, clinicians and pharmacists tend to think of the pharmacology of antitussives such as dextromethorphan or expectorants such as guaifenesin, and they rarely consider the role of excipients in the efficacy of the medicine. This review discusses the functions and importance of excipients in cough medicines and provides some new information for clinicians, pharmacists, and all interested in the treatment of cough when considering the composition and efficacy of a cough medicine. Keywords Cough · Excipients · Color · Thickeners · Flavors · Sweeteners · Menthol · Placebo effect
Introduction Excipients are generally defined as any ingredient in a medicine other than the active ingredient. Their role in most medicines is to act as a stable vehicle for the delivery of the active ingredient in the form of a tablet, capsule, cream, or liquid. In most medicines, the excipients play a supportive role in delivering the medicine, but in the case of cough medicines, excipients have more important and complex roles and they can also be the main active ingredient of the cough medicine. Cough medicines are unique in that the most common form of the medicine is a viscous sweet syrup [1]. The active ingredients such as the antitussive dextromethorphan or expectorant guaifenesin, etc. could be delivered to the patient as tablets or capsules without any loss of pharmacological activity, but because of the history * Ronald Eccles [email protected] 1
Cardiff School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, Museum Avenue, Cardiff CF10 3AX, UK
of cough medicines being formulated from food substances such as honey, a sweet viscous syrup formulation is expected by the patient consumer [2]. Although cough medicines are controlled by medical regulations, they have many simila
Data Loading...
