Evaluation of marketed and formulated furosemide tablets

Five commercial brands of furosemide tablets were evaluated using the official and non-official tests of U.S.P. XIX. These tests include: uniformity of weight, hardness, friability and disintegration time. The results obtained showed that most of these brands failed to attain the U.S.P. requirements. The inclusion of different surface active agents in some of the new suggested formulae was proposed for improving the poor properties of such commercial furosemide tablets. In addition to the above quality control tests, dissolution rate studies of the new formulated tablets were carried out. The addition of 11.4% dioctyl sodium sulphosuccinate increased the dissolution rate up to 48.5% after 60 min. On the other hand, the same concentration of sodium lauryl sulphate caused complete tablet dissolution within 45 min. The effect of a higher concentration of sodium lauryl sulphate on the dissolution rate of furosemide has also been examined.