Quality assessment of different brands of Ciprofloxacin 500 mg tablets from a drug outlet in Onitsha

Ciprofloxacin is a synthetic flouroquinolone antibiotic derivative with broad-spectrum antibacterial action. Ten brands of ciprofloxacin (500mg) tablets were purchased from the selected drug outlets in Anambra state for the study. The tablets were assessed for compliance with pharmacopeia specification. Analysis of the data generated indicated that all the brands except brand C6 complied with the compendia specification of weight variation, only three brands (C5, C8 and C10) were within the specified limits of content assay, all the brands complied with the official specification for disintegration time, five brands (C1, C3, C7, C8 and C10) complied with the official specification for rate of dissolution, only brands C2 and C9 were within the acceptable limit for hardness test and brands C1, C3, C5, C6, C9 and C10 complied with the specification for friability test. Among all the tablets that passed, brands C1, C3, C5, C8 and C10 have the highest quality because they complied with the compendia standards on weight uniformity, friability, disintegration time, content of active ingredients and drug release. The study concluded that not all the brands tested are of sufficient good quality with up to five brands (C2, C4, C6, C7 and C9) failing most of the important tests. This may be due to deliberate counterfeiting, failure of not strictly following the current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP) or poor handling by wholesalers and retailers. Therefore, adequate product testing should be done to determine the quality and strict laws should be placed to prevent intentional counterfeiting of drugs.