Formulation Factors Affecting Oral Absorption
Student Objectives for this Chapter
- To understand the formulation factors which affect
the oral absorption of drug products
The role of the drug formulation in the delivery of drug to the
site of action should not be ignored. With any drug it is possible to
alter its bioavailability considerably by formulation modification.
With some drugs an even larger variation between a good formulation
and a bad formulation has been observed. Since a drug must be in
solution to be absorbed from the G-I tract, you may expect the
bioavailability of a drug to decrease in the order solution >
suspension > capsule > tablet > coated tablet. This order
may not always be followed but it is a useful guide. One example is
the results for pentobarbital. Here the order was found to be aqueous
solution > aqueous suspension = capsule > tablet of free acid
form. This chapter will briefly discuss each of these formulation
types particularly in regard to the relative bioavailability.
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Copyright 2001-3 David W. A. Bourne (david@boomer.org)
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Monday 04 Aug 2003 at 12:25 PM