Pharmaceutical Science and Technology

Pharmaceutical Formulation

Pharmaceutical formulation is the process in which different chemical substances, like the active drug, are combined to produce a final medicinal product. Formulation word is often used in a way that it includes dosage form.

Formulation studies include developing a preparation of the drug which is stable as well as acceptable to the patient. For orally administered drugs, this mostly involves incorporating the drug into a tablet or a capsule form.

Formulation studies then consider factors such as particle size, polymorphism, pH, and solubility, as all of these can influence the activity of a drug affected by change in bioavailability. The drug should be combined with inactive ingredients by a method which ensures that the quantity of drug used is consistent in each dosage unit e.g. each capsule or tablet. The dosage should have a uniform appearance, tablet hardness, capsule disintegration and with an acceptable taste.