制药工程课文.doc

Unit 11 Tablets (The Pharmaceutical Tablets Dosage Form) Role in Therapy The oral route of drug administration is the most important method of administering drugs for systemic effects. Except in cases of Insulin therapy，the parenteral route is not routinely used for self-administration of medications. The topical route of administration has only recently been employed to deliver drugs to the body for systemic effects，with two classes of marketed products: Nitroglycerin for the treatment of angina and scopolamine for the treatment of motion sickness. Other drugs are certain to follow，but the topical route of administration is limited in its ability to allow effective drug absorption for systemic drug action. The parenteral roue of administration is important in treating medical emergencies in which a subject is comatose or cannot swallow，and in providing various types of maintenance therapy for hospitalized patients. Nevertheless，it is probable that at least 90 0 o of all drugs used to produce systemic effects are administered by the oral rote. When a new drug is discovered，one of the first questions a pharmaceutical company asks is whether or not drug can be effectively administered for its intended effect by the oral route. If it cannot， the drug is primarily relegated to administration in a hospital setting or physicians office. If patient self- administration cannot be achieved，the sales of the drug constitute only a small fraction of what the market would be otherwise. Of drugs that are administered orally，solid oral dosage forms represent the preferred class of product. The reasons for this preference are as follows. Tablets and capsules represent unit dosage forms in which one usual dose of the drug has been accurately placed. By comparison，liquid oral dosage forms，such as syrups，suspensions，emulsions，solutions，and elixirs，are usually designed to contain one dose of medication in 5 to 30 ml. The patient is then asked to measure his or her own medication using