A comparative study of the efficacy of seven brands of frusemide tablets

Abstract

Seven frusemide products (tablets, 40mg) which had been submitted in response to a government tender were subjected to chemical and biological a say in an attempt to establish their acceptability or otherwise, Chemical assay showed that the frusemide content of 6 product was within the acceptable British Pharmacopoeia (BP) specifications (95-105%) of label claim while one product failed the assay marginally. the frusemide content being 9-1% of the label claim. The biological assay (ability to induce diuresis in rats) performed at 2 dosage levels showed that all 7 products were readily absorbed from the stomach and produced comparable diuretic responses. Results obtained with human volunteers, though not definitive, were generally in agreement with those obtained with rats. There is a possibility that the quality of the actual product supplied once the tender is awarded may not correspond to the tender sample and for this reason, random sampling of all batches supplied is recommended.