ノート
抗アレルギー点眼薬におけるスイッチOTC医薬品と医療用医薬品との製剤学的特性および経済性に関する比較検討
2017 年 43 巻 10 号 p. 592-598
詳細
2017 年 43 巻 10 号 p. 592-598
To provide appropriate information concerning ethical or Rx-OTC-switch drugs containing the same ingredients by pharmacists, it is necessary to understand the properties of both. In this study, pharmaceutical properties and economics were compared between ethical and Rx-OTC-switch anti-allergy ophthalmic solutions containing tranilast, pemirolast, or acitazanolast.
Regarding 14 ethical and 3 Rx-OTC-switch products, the squeeze force, drop weight, pH, specific gravity, and total number of drops were measured. The usable period per bottle and daily cost were calculated from the total number of drops.
The squeeze forces of the three drugs differed about 1.5-2 times among their products. Single-drop volumes calculated from the drop weights and specific gravities ranged from 30 to 46 μL for 0.5％ tranilast ophthalmic solution, larger for the original drugs than for the Rx-OTC-switch and generic ones. The pH values of the ophthalmic solutions differed among the drugs, but not among their products. The usable periods of each bottle of the three drugs were longer for the Rx-OTC-switch drugs. However, the daily drug costs of 0.1％ pemirolast ophthalmic solution were higher for the Rx-OTC-switch drug than for the original one, although those of 0.5％ tranilast ophthalmic solution were lower.
The present study demonstrated that the squeeze forces and drop volumes differed between the Rx-OTC-switch and ethical drugs and that the usable periods of each bottle and daily costs differed among the drugs. It is important for pharmacists to obtain information on the pharmaceutical properties and economics for in order to select products for individual patients.
