In-vitro Evaluations of Quality Control Parameters of Different Brands of Metronidazole Tablets Marketed in Al-Bayda City, Libya

Abstract

This study was an attempt to evaluate the quality of some of the chosen metronidazole products for marketing in Libyan community pharmacies. Various quality control measures for pharmaceutical products can ensure their optimal therapeutic action, as well as their purity and bioavailability. Tests were performed in vitro on the commonly used quality control parameters, such as weight variation, hardness, friability, content uniformity, disintegration time, and dissolution test. According to this analysis, the weight variation ranges from 664 to 990 mg, the hardness of metronidazole tablets was 14.88 to 29.87 kg/cm2, the friability of all the brands was below 1%, and the disintegration time was between 4:32 min and 8:31 min. Content uniformity was between 93% and 108%, and all brands showed a satisfactory dissolution profile as they released more than 85% of the drug in 60 minutes. The results showed that all the brands passed the weight variation, friability, disintegration test, content uniformity, and dissolution test and met the compendial criteria of USP. Eight brands failed the hardness test.