Evaluation of Seven Different Brands of Metformin Hydrochloride Tablets Available in the Market in Gondar City, Ethiopia.

Background: WHO estimates that 15.8% of substandard or falsified medical products are used to treat non-communicable diseases which account for 80% of the global burden including diabetes. The increased level of use of metformin hydrochloride tablets in clinical practice creates the need to monitor and ascertain the quality of the various brands available in the drug market for quality control assessment and generic substitution. This study aims to assess the pharmaceutical quality of seven brands of metformin tablets circulating in pharmacy outlets in Gondar City, North West Ethiopia. Methods: Official Pharmacopoeia tests such as uniformity of weight, disintegration, assay, and dissolution tests were used to assess the physicochemical quality control parameters of metformin hydrochloride tablet brands. The unofficial tests conducted included crushing strength/hardness and friability. Results: In all seven tests, the tested brands passed the BP official tests for uniformity of weight, friability, disintegration, and dissolution. Each product had a friability of less than 1% with a maximum of 0.385%. In contrast, none of the brands passed the non-official hardness test. Each product disintegrated in seven to twelve minutes, meeting the USP standards. Drug release rates in 45 min ranged from 78.9 to 92.6%, and drug content results were within the USP guidelines (96.55-102.76%). Conclusion: The current study demonstrated that all seven brands of metformin hydrochloride 500 mg tablets adhered to the quality control parameters specified in the pharmacopeia, except for the hardness test across all brands.

Substandard and falsified antimicrobials in selected east African countries: A systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Globally, millions of people have been affected by fraudulent pharmaceutical products, particularly those in developing countries. Although the problem of falsified and substandard drugs is acknowledged, the extent of the issue is ever-changing, has a dynamic nature, and should be quantified and captured in a recent snapshot. OBJECTIVE: This systematic review seeks to examine the data that can quantify and provide a current snapshot of the prevalence of SF antimicrobials in selected east Africa countries. METHODS: Scientific studies on antimicrobial quality were searched in PubMed, Embase, Scopus, and Google Scholar from 2017 to February 2023. The search strategy focused on scientific articles published in peer-reviewed scientific journals written in English and the studies exclusively done in any of the selected countries of east Africa. The articles were carefully reviewed by two individuals for inclusion independently, first by title followed by abstract and the full-text retrieval. To minimize bias associated with the methodology used for data collection, the quality of the studies was assessed for quality according to the Medicine Quality Assessment Reporting Guidelines (MEDQUARG). The reporting of this systematic review was done following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA). RESULTS: Fifteen studies that estimated the prevalence of poor-quality antimicrobial medicines in selected four east African countries were included. The overall percentage of samples of antimicrobials that failed at least one quality test was 22.6% (151/669) with each class's prevalence of 17% in antibiotics (73/432), 24% in antimalarial (41/171), and 56% in anthelmintics (37/66). Quality control parameters of API content were the most commonly examined in the included studies, accounting for 14/15 (93%) studies. Fifty (33.1%) of the failing samples failed assay API- content determination, while 26.5% (n = 40) failed the visual inspection and packaging analysis; 19.2% (29) failed dissolution; 14% (n = 21) flawed hardness or friability; 4%(n = 6) failed uniformity, as well as 3.2% (n = 5) failed disintegration test of the quality control parameter. CONCLUSION: It was found that this review was general in these selected east African countries and was a catalyst for combating the menace of poor-quality medications that affect millions of lives.

Perception Towards COVID-19 Related Symptoms and Traditional Medicine Used for Their Management Among Patients and Their Attendants in Ethiopian Comprehensive Specialized Hospitals: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Background: Since the beginning of the pandemic, scientists and researchers are highly engaged in the discovery and production of vaccines and specific treatments for COVID-19. In China, the National Health Commission has declared the use of herbal medicine combined with Western medicine as a treatment for COVID-19 and has issued many guidelines on herbal medicine-related therapies. Ethiopians have a variety of medicinal herbs to treat various viral diseases. Hence, this study aimed to assess the perception of the respondent towards COVID-19 related symptoms and traditional medicine practice for their management. Methods: A hospital-based cross-sectional study was done among 423 patients and patient attendants at the University of Gondar Comprehensive Specialized Hospital from August 6 to 27, 2021. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire, and the data were entered into Epi Info 7 and then analyzed with SPSS 20. The association between the independent and dependent variables was explained using chi-square test. Results: A total of 423 respondents participated in the study; 414 (97.9%) participants heard about COVID-19 and responded correctly to the chief clinical symptoms. Fever is the most perceived symptom, reported by 378 (91.3) respondents, and the least reported symptom was loss of taste and smell by 30 (7.2%) respondents. This study showed that home remedies were practiced by 323 of the total respondents, and herbal medicines were the second most and practiced by 316 respondents. Monthly income and perceived knowledge about chief symptoms were statistically significantly associated (p < 0.05) with the use of complementary and alternative medicine for the management of COVID-19 related symptoms. Conclusion: This study found that most of the respondents have knowledge about the signs and symptoms of COVID-19 and the traditional medicine is being practiced by most of the study participants as a management for COVID-19 and related symptoms.