HERBAL PLANTS A RELIABLE SOURCE FOR DRUG DISCOVERY AND DEVELOPMENT

Though remarkable success have been achieved in the discovery and development of various drugs for the treatment and management of several ailments, there is still need for more discoveries. This is due to the reason that some of the drugs currently in use posseses one or more of the following drawbacks (i) high toxicity level (ii) increase lose of effectiveness or low efficacy (iii) costly or (iv) inaccessable. Herbs have now become the main stream for drug discovery and development. Conservative estimate have revealed that there are over 250,000 higher plant species, and only a minute proportion have been screened exhaustively for their possible therapeutic properties. Atleast, over 120 unique pharmacological substances derived from plants are currently being used as drugs in various countries in the world. Apart from the direct use of plant derivatives as therapeutic agents, they can also serve as models for the design, synthesis or semisynthesis of other therpeutic agents. In conclusion, herbs are a reliable source for more discovery and development of new drugs. The scientific community should therefore harness this resource by improving research on it.

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http://www.pharmatutor.org/articles/herbal-plants-reliable-source-drug-discovery-development

SOURCE: PHARMATUTOR.ORG

BE AWARE OF ROHYPNOL: A SHORT COMMUNICATION

Scientific research on drug abuse indicates this as being a rising trend among the youth around the globe. An investigation into the experimentation with drugs among the youth showed a rate of increase of 8%. The study also revealed an 85.9% increase in alcohol use and 35.2% increase in tobacco use.  Furthermore, the study also suggests an increase in the rate of ecstasy and alcohol usage coupled with drugs and opiates such as heroin.  This article will thus endeavour to form a network of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) whose purpose will be the development and implementation of a joint action plan to prevent substance abuse in around the world, in order to promote active engagement of civil society in this field.

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http://www.pharmatutor.org/articles/be-aware-rohypnol-short-communication

SOURCE: PHARMATUTOR.ORG

A REVIEW ARTICLE ON TRANSDERMAL DRUG DELIVERY SYSTEM

Transdermal drug delivery system (TDDS) is topically administered dosage form in the form of patches which deliver drugs for systemic effects at a predetermined and controlled rate. This review focuses towards the basic facts about the transdermal drug delivery system including the methods of their preparation and some of the recent advancements that have in achieved in this field.

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http://www.pharmatutor.org/articles/review-article-on-transdermal-drug-delivery-system

SOURCE: PHARMATUTOR.ORG

FORMULATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF RALOXIFENE BETA-CYCLODEXTRINE INCLUSION COMPLEX FOR SOLUBILITY ENHANCEMENT

Raloxifene is a second genaration selective estrogen receptor modulator used to prevent osteoporosis in postmenopausal women. which is insoluble in water and half life is 27.7 hr. it has estrogen effect on bone and cholesterol metabolism but behaves as a complete estrogen antagonist on mammary gland and uterine tissue. raloxifene needs enhancement of solubility and dissolution rate to improve its oral bipavailability and therapeutic efficasy. among  the various approaches to enhance solubility and dissolution rate of poorly soluble drugs complexation with cyclodextrine is an effective and indutrially accepted technique. In the present  investigation complexation of raloxifene with β-CD was carried out by using various technique like physical blending method, kneading method, solvent evaporation method and co-precipitation method. From the various characterization studies like solubility determination, drug content determination, production yield & in vitro dissolution study, it was observed that there was a significant rise in the aqueous solubility and dissolution rate of the raloxifene from the β-cd incusion complex. from the result of statistical analysis, batch RLX-6 by kneading method was found to be optimised batch, because of the maximum enhancement in solubility and rate of dissolution.  Optimised batch was also studied for compatibility by FTIR studies, and also it was found to be stable for the period of 90 days as per the ICH guidelines.

READ MORE: http://www.pharmatutor.org/articles/formulation-characterization-raloxifene-beta-cyclodextrine-inclusion-complex-solubility-enhancement

SOURCE: PHARMATUTOR.ORG