Assessment of the pharmaceutical equivalence and in vitro dissolution studies of amlodipine tablets marketed in Northern Nigeria

The extensive supply of poor quality and/or counterfeit drug products in many developing countries has made it vital to frequently carry out suitable tests to assess bioequivalence (BE) in a cost-effective manner. This study was intended to assess the pharmaceutical equivalence and dissolution profile of amlodipine 5mg tablets marketed in Jos and Kaduna metropolis. Ten brands of Amlodipine 5mg tablets were obtained from different community pharmacies and evaluated for different quality control parameters such as percent drug content, friability, hardness, thickness, weight uniformity, disintegration time, and dissolution. The results showed that brands F and I failed the test for percent drug content while the rest of the brands passed it. In addition, all the brands passed the disintegration and friability test while Brands C, F and I did not pass the hardness test. The dissolution profiles of all the brands were similar to the innovator brand at pH 6.8, whereas at pH 1.2, only four brands (B, E, H and I) had similar dissolution profile to the innovator. This study serves to justify for the assessment of in vitro parameters of commercially available amlodipine generics which may aid the prescribers’ decision making.