What’s in fake “Xanax”? : a dosage survey of designer benzodiazepines in counterfeit pharmaceutical tablets

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen Blakey ◽  
Amanda Thompson ◽  
Abbey Matheson ◽  
Andrew Griffiths
Keyword(s):  
Pharmaceutical Tablets ◽  
Designer Benzodiazepines

scholarly journals Designer Benzodiazepines: A Review of Toxicology and Public Health Risks

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (6) ◽  
pp. 560
Author(s):  
Pietro Brunetti ◽  
Raffaele Giorgetti ◽  
Adriano Tagliabracci ◽  
Marilyn A. Huestis ◽  
Francesco Paolo Busardò
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Adverse Events ◽  
Health Risks ◽  
Drug Market ◽  
Driving Under The Influence ◽  
Self Administration ◽  
Public Health Risks ◽  
Drug Offense ◽  
Legal Sanctions ◽  
Designer Benzodiazepines

The rising use of designer benzodiazepines (DBZD) is a cat-and-mouse game between organized crime and law enforcement. Non-prohibited benzodiazepines are introduced onto the global drug market and scheduled as rapidly as possible by international authorities. In response, DBZD are continuously modified to avoid legal sanctions and drug seizures and generally to increase the abuse potential of the DBZD. This results in an unpredictable fluctuation between the appearance and disappearance of DBZD in the illicit market. Thirty-one DBZD were considered for review after consulting the international early warning database, but only 3-hydroxyphenazepam, adinazolam, clonazolam, etizolam, deschloroetizolam, diclazepam, flualprazolam, flubromazepam, flubromazolam, meclonazepam, phenazepam and pyrazolam had sufficient data to contribute to this scoping review. A total of 49 reports describing 1 drug offense, 2 self-administration studies, 3 outpatient department admissions, 44 emergency department (ED) admissions, 63 driving under the influence of drugs (DUID) and 141 deaths reported between 2008 and 2021 are included in this study. Etizolam, flualprazolam flubromazolam and phenazepam were implicated in the majority of adverse-events, drug offenses and deaths. However, due to a general lack of knowledge of DBZD pharmacokinetics and toxicity, and due to a lack of validated analytical methods, total cases are much likely higher. Between 2019 and April 2020, DBZD were identified in 48% and 83% of postmortem and DUID cases reported to the UNODC, respectively, with flualprazolam, flubromazolam and etizolam as the most frequently detected substances. DBZD toxicology, public health risks and adverse events are reported.

scholarly journals UV/Vis absorption spectroelectrochemistry of folic acid

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Olmo ◽  
A. Rodriguez ◽  
A. Colina ◽  
A. Heras
Keyword(s):  
Folic Acid ◽  
Optical Signal ◽  
Oxidation Products ◽  
Basic Medium ◽  
Analytical Technique ◽  
Pharmaceutical Tablets ◽  
Solution Interface ◽  
Vitamin B9 ◽  
Analytical Protocol ◽  
Parallel Configuration

AbstractUV/Vis absorption spectroelectrochemistry is a very promising analytical technique due to the complementary information that is simultaneously obtained from electrochemistry and spectroscopy. In this work, this technique is used in a parallel configuration to study the oxidation of folic acid in alkaline medium. Herein, UV/Vis absorption spectroelectrochemistry has been used to detect both the oxidation products and the folic acid consumed at the electrode/solution interface, allowing us to develop an analytical protocol to quantify vitamin B9 in pharmaceutical tablets. Linear ranges of three orders of magnitude have been achieved in basic medium (pH = 12.9), obtaining high repeatability and low detection limits. The spectroelectrochemical determination of folic acid in pharmaceutical tablets at alkaline pH values is particularly interesting because of the changes that occur in the optical signal during the electrochemical oxidation of FA, providing results with very good figures of merit and demonstrating the utility and versatility of this hyphenated technique, UV/Vis absorption spectroelectrochemistry.

scholarly journals Determination of drug, excipients and coating distribution in pharmaceutical tablets using NIR-CI

2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 90-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Palou ◽  
Jordi Cruz ◽  
Marcelo Blanco ◽  
Jaume Tomàs ◽  
Joaquín de los Ríos ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Pharmaceutical Tablets

Photochemical stability of warfarin potassium in powdered pharmaceutical tablets

2021 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 115-129
Author(s):  
Emi Horiguchi-Babamoto ◽  
Makoto Otsuka
Keyword(s):  
High Performance ◽  
Partial Least Squares Regression ◽  
Pediatric Patients ◽  
Reversed Phase ◽  
Least Squares Regression ◽  
Brand Name ◽  
Pharmaceutical Tablets ◽  
Light Stability ◽  
Warfarin Potassium ◽  
The Stability

BACKGROUND: Warfarin potassium (Wf) commercial tablets originally formulated for adults are ground before administration to pediatric patients and elderly patients with dysphagia. OBJECTIVE: The present study investigated the effect of tablet grinding on the photostability of four types of commercial Wf tablets and predicted the photostability of the tablet powders by chemometric analysis. METHODS: The photodegradation of Wf content was evaluated by reversed-phase column high-performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet (HPLC-UV). RESULTS: The bulk Wf powder was relatively photostable, whereas ground Wf tablets underwent substantial photodegradation. The photostability of the ground powders of a brand-name Wf commercial tablet and three generic Wf commercial tablets was quantitatively assessed and compared. In certain cases, the Wf in all the three ground generic tablets was less photostable than in the ground brand-name tablets. After 28 days of light irradiation, the Wf content decreased to 69.79% in the brand-name tablets, while it was 31.90% in some generic tablets. To clarify the factors influencing the relative photostability in various Wf formulations, we analyzed the intermolecular interactions between the active ingredient and the excipients by partial least-squares regression analysis based on photostability screening for each additive. CONCLUSION: The results suggested that the additives light anhydrous silicic acid and povidone adversely affect the stability of Wf tablets. In addition, the light stability of ground tablets was affected considerably by their formulation.

scholarly journals The Development and Validation of a Novel Designer Benzodiazepines Panel by LC–MS-MS

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca A Mastrovito ◽  
Donna M Papsun ◽  
Barry K Logan
Keyword(s):  
Illicit Drug ◽  
Liquid Extraction ◽  
Electrospray Tandem Mass Spectrometry ◽  
Method Performance ◽  
Internal Standards ◽  
Liquid Liquid Extraction ◽  
Relative Standard ◽  
Development And Validation ◽  
Positive Ion ◽  
Designer Benzodiazepines

Abstract Novel illicit benzodiazepines are among the most active areas of new illicit drug manufacture and use. We describe a method for the detection and quantification of etizolam and its metabolite α-hydroxyetizolam, flubromazolam, clonazolam, diclazepam, delorazepam, bromazepam, flubromazepam, phenazepam, flualprazolam, flunitrazolam, and nitrazolam in human whole blood. After addition of internal standards, samples are buffered and extracted using a liquid–liquid extraction. Analysis is performed using positive-ion electrospray tandem mass spectrometry for detection and quantitation. Calibration ranges were established based on the method performance and differed from compound to compound. Replicates at the lowest calibration point for each compound performed within 5% of CV (Coefficient of Variation). The correlation coefficient was >0.990 for all compounds. Relative standard deviation for all compounds was ≤10% of CV and accuracy was  ±10% for both within- and between-run experiments. The maximum average intra- and inter-run imprecision were 5.7%. The maximum average intra- and inter-run imprecision was −8.7%. As part of evaluating the scope for relevancy, samples testing positive in immunoassay but confirmed to be negative in traditional benzodiazepine confirmation method were re-analyzed using this method. The presence of at least one novel benzodiazepine was identified in 70% of these samples. The appearance of these novel “designer” benzodiazepines demonstrates the challenge for toxicology testing and the need for continually updated confirmation methods.

scholarly journals Terahertz-Based Porosity Measurement of Pharmaceutical Tablets: a Tutorial

2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 450-469 ◽  
Author(s):  
Prince Bawuah ◽  
Daniel Markl ◽  
Daniel Farrell ◽  
Mike Evans ◽  
Alessia Portieri ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Pharmaceutical Tablets

Heterostructures of mesoporous TiO2 and SnO2 nanocatalyst for improved electrochemical oxidation ability of vitamin B6 in pharmaceutical tablets

2019 ◽  
Vol 542 ◽  
pp. 45-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Devaraj Manoj ◽  
Saravanan Rajendran ◽  
Jiaqian Qin ◽  
Elumalai Sundaravadivel ◽  
Mehmet Lütfi Yola ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Electrochemical Oxidation ◽  
Vitamin B6 ◽  
Mesoporous Tio2 ◽  
Pharmaceutical Tablets

Simultaneous Determination of Ibuprofen and Pseudoephedrine Hydrochloride in Pharmaceutical Tablets by Reversed-Phase HPLC

2009 ◽  
Vol 42 (18) ◽  
pp. 2951-2961 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie-Hélène Langlois ◽  
Philippe Dallet ◽  
Tina Kauss ◽  
Jean-Pierre Dubost
Keyword(s):  
Simultaneous Determination ◽  
Reversed Phase ◽  
Reversed Phase Hplc ◽  
Pharmaceutical Tablets
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