Equivalence in Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient of Generic Antihypertensive Medicines Available in Nigeria (EQUIMEDS): A Case for Further Surveillance.

BACKGROUND: Widespread access to good quality antihypertensive medicines is a critical component for reducing premature cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality. Poor-quality medicines pose serious health concerns; however, there remains a knowledge gap about the quality of cardiovascular medicines available in low- and middle-income countries. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to determine the quality of generic antihypertensive medicines available in the retail market of a developing country. METHODS: Samples of the 2 most commonly prescribed classes of antihypertensive medicines were collected from 3 states in 3 different geopolitical zones in Nigeria following a semirandom sampling framework. Medicine samples were purchased by mystery shoppers from 22 pharmacy outlets from 6 local government areas across the 3 states. Medicine quality was determined by measuring the amount of stated active pharmaceutical ingredient using high-performance liquid chromatography with photodiode array detection and classified according to their compliance to the specified pharmacopeia tolerance limits for each antihypertensive drug. RESULTS: Amlodipine and lisinopril were identified as the most commonly prescribed antihypertensive drugs in Nigeria. In total, 361 samples from 22 pharmacies were collected and tested. In total, 24.6% of amlodipine and 31.9% of lisinopril samples were of substandard quality and significantly more samples purchased in rural (59 of 161, 36.7%) compared with urban (32 of 200, 16%) outlets were found to be of substandard quality (p < 0.001). No falsified samples of either amlodipine or lisinopril were detected. There was large variation in price paid for the antihypertensive medicines (range ₦150 to ₦9,750). Of the 24 pharmacy outlets surveyed, 46% stated that patients did not always require a prescription and 21% had previously reported a medicine as falsified or substandard. CONCLUSIONS: More than one-quarter of some commonly prescribed antihypertensive medicines available in Nigeria may be of substandard quality. Enhanced quality assurance processes in low- and middle-income countries, such as Nigeria, are needed to support optimum management.

Analysis of purity profiles of generic lisinopril tablets marketed in Croatia.

In view of an increasing number of generic drugs emerging, a comparative study was performed including the approved lisinopril preparations in the form of tablets marketed in Croatia, to compare purity profiles of generic drugs versus the original medicinal product. Several batches of each individual medicinal product at different stages of their shelf life were analyzed. Impurities were determined by means of high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Impurity profiles were demonstrated to be specific for each individual drug. Original drug, as compared to its generic copies, had the lowest values and also the lowest variability of all the tested parameters--type, total number and content of impurities--suggesting that its manufacturing process is to certain degree better controlled compared to other manufacturers. A characteristic impurity C appearing in all the assessed preparations has the lowest levels in the original drug, whereas the amount of the highest unknown impurity does not exceed 0.10% in any of the analyzed preparations. Although the original drug stands out from all the generic preparations with its purity, it can be generally concluded that, as regarding impurities levels, all the analyzed medicinal products are within the ranges of specification limits; accordingly, it is therefore not expected that, in case of lisinopril tablets, administration of the original drug as compared to any of its generic drugs, will be safer for the patient.

Lisinopril and lisinopril/hydrochlorothiazide preparations on the Belgian market: a comparative study.

Preparations containing lisinopril and the combination lisinopril/hydrochlorothiazide, and formulated as tablets were evaluated with different tests, including in vitro dissolution, assay and content uniformity, and determination of related compounds. The analytical methods were previously validated according to international guidelines. All examined products complied with the postulated requirements.

Characterization of a novel trace-level impurity in lisinopril using multi-stage mass spectrometry.

An impurity in the bulk drug lisinopril was detected by simple reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). This trace-level impurity was rapidly identified as 2-(2-oxo-azocan-3-ylamino)-4-phenyl- butyric acid on the basis of the on-line multi-stage mass spectrometric evidence, and the proposed structure was further confirmed by multi-stage mass spectrometry of lisinopril and three related compounds.

Decision analysis applied to the selection of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors.

Decision analysis is applied to the group of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, in order to select those which should be included in the hospital formulary and to establish a research method which allows the reproduction of the process with new, related drugs. Captopril, enalapril and lisinopril were the alternatives considered. Evaluation criteria were efficacy, clinical experience, safety, dosage interval, hepatic bioactivation, interactions, dosage forms and cost. A relative weight was assigned through a survey among the hospital's staff. Each alternative was evaluated in relation to all criteria. Sensitivity analysis was applied to validate the method. Enalapril obtained the highest score, followed by lisinopril and captopril. The sensitivity analysis confirms this result. Enalapril is selected for the hospital formulary due to its higher score, although the differences between the three are very small.