OBJECTIVE To identify how some general practices have low growth in prescribing costs relative to other practices. DESIGN Observational study. SETTING Trent region of England. PARTICIPANTS 162 general practices: 54 with low growth in prescribing costs, 54 with average increases in costs, and 54 with large increases in costs. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Changes in prescribing costs in therapeu...

We found that nonlethal lysosomal enzyme release from human peripheral blood leukocytes during phagocytosis of opsonized zymosan in vitro was modified by the oxygen tension under which the cells were incubated; with decreasing Po(2), zymosan-induced release of lysosomal enzymes was potentiated. The effect on enzyme release could not be attributed secondarily to an effect on phagocytosis, becaus...

The goal of hormone replacement is to mirror physiology. Hydrocortisone granules and modified release formulations are being developed optimise cortisol in the rare disease adrenal insufficiency. To facilitate clinical development, we built verified a physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) model for endogenous (hydrocortisone) healthy adults, children adults with predicted immediate-relea...

Implementation of the Quality by Design (QbD) approach in pharmaceutical development has compelled researchers in the pharmaceutical industry to employ Design of Experiments (DoE) as a statistical tool, in product development. Among all DoE techniques, response surface methodology (RSM) is the one most frequently used. Progress of computer science has had an impact on pharmaceutical development...

With the increased reliance on in vitro dissolution testing as an indicator of in vivo drug behavior and the trend towards the in silico modeling of dosage form performance, the need for bioperformance dissolution methodology development has been enhanced. Determination of the in vivo drug delivery profile is essential for the bioperformance dissolution test development and in vitro/in vivo cor...

5-aminosalicyclates (5-ASA) remain a key first-line therapy for patients with ulcerative colitis (UC). A range of 5-ASA preparations is available and Eudragit-S(®) coated modified release formulations of mesalamine, such as Asacol(®), remain among the most popular choices. We here review the current understanding of the mechanism of action of 5-ASA in inflammatory bowel disease. We evaluate evi...

Drug dosage forms contain many components in addition to the active pharmaceutical ingredient(s) to assist in the manufacturing process as well as to optimise drug delivery. Due to advances in drug delivery technology, excipients are currently included in novel dosage forms to fulfil specific functions and in some cases they directly or indirectly influence the extent and/or rate of drug releas...

Background: Since large-scale commercial planting of genetically modified (GM) crops began in 1996, a concern has been that non-GM crops may become contaminated by GM crops and that wild or weedy relatives of GM crops growing outside of cultivated areas could become contaminated. The GM Contamination Register contains records of GM contamination incidents since 1997 and forms a unique database....

The aim of this work was to develop swellable modified release (MR) isoniazid tablets using different combinations of polyvinyl acetate (PVAc) and sodium-carboxymethylcellulose (Na-CMC). Granules were prepared by moist granulation technique and then compressed into tablets. In vitro release studies for 12 hr were carried out in dissolution media of varying pH i.e. pH 1.2, 4.5, 7.0 and 7.5. Tabl...