Assay of paracetamol tablets from different manufacturing sources in Sulaimani market in Iraq

Background: Paracetamol is a common analgesic and antipyretic drug that is marketed individually or as in combination with other drugs. Tablets produced by different manufacturers can have different physical and chemical properties due to the usage of different excipients and manufacturing methods. Objective: This research was conducted to study ten different paracetamol brands commercially available in the city of Sulaimani to compare their content percentage, dissolution profile and friability. Patients and Methods: The tablet content assay in this research was conducted using a method stated by the Indian pharmacopeia, while dissolution and friability test methods were derived from the United States Pharmacopeia. A total of ten brands of paracetamol (three local and seven international) were chosen for this study. Results: All of the tested brands had their active ingredient content within the specified limits of 95%-105%. Regarding dissolution test, all the studied tablets showed a dissolution yield of more than 80% within 30 minutes with the tablets manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline showing the fastest dissolution rate. All the tablets had an acceptable weight loss of less than 1% after applying the friability test but the tablets manufactured by Samaraa have shown the highest friability of 0.34%. Conclusion: It was concluded that all of the tested products which are available in Iraqi market/City of Sulaimani meet the requirements specified by United States Pharmacopeia in terms of content assay, dissolution rate and friability.