Assessment of the Pharmaceutical Quality of some Brands of Omeprazole Capsules Marketed in Maiduguri Metropolis, Borno, Nigeria.
BACKGROUND: The proliferation of counterfeit, substandard and inferior quality drugs is a major challenge in low- middle income countries like Nigeria where drug regulation and law enforcement are constrained by limited resources. OBJECTIVES: The aim of the study was to assess the quality parameters of some brands of Omeprazole capsules marketed in Maiduguri Metropolis, Borno State, Nigeria. METHODS: The uniformity of weight, disintegration test, content uniformity and dissolution rate test were the official tests carried out using Pharmacopoeial methods. Organoleptic tests and other non-official tests were carried out. RESULTS: Ten brands of omeprazole capsules were assessed for purity using omeprazole sample as standard for comparison. All the ten brands tested passed the visual inspection, organoleptic tests, weight uniformity and disintegration tests. Three (3) brands (OMC 1, 4 and 6) out of the ten (10) brands passed the content uniformity test, while the other seven (7) brands were either below or above the acceptable Pharmacopoeial limit. For the dissolution test, only three (3) brands (OMC 1, 3 and 8) passed the test. CONCLUSION: The results therefore, indicated that some of the brands of the Omeprazole capsules marketed in Maiduguri Metropolis failed to comply with some Pharmacopoeial standards.