Comparative In-vitro Evaluation of Different Captopril Tablet Brands Commercially Available in Sindh, Pakistan

Pharmaceutical products of standard quality are very important in appropriate management of diseases. However, substandard drugs are failing to achieve the therapeutic outcomes. In this study, six brands of Captopril tables having two strengths (three brands of 50 mg, and three brands of 25 mg), were collected from local pharmacies of Sindh. Standards of United States of Pharmacopeia (USP) were used for comparison of Captopril brands. Wide ranges of physicochemical standard quality control tests of USP were performed and results were recorded. All six brands of captopril tablets met the standard of aesthetic test, and weight uniformity test, diameter test and thickness test and disintegration test in which dissolved within fifteen minutes. Four brands of captopril tablet meet the standard of hardness test, whereas two brands fails to meet the standard with average hardness in brand C25-2 (3.05 ± 0.32), and brand C25-3 (2.28 ± 0.40). Five brands of captopril tablet meet the standard of friability test whereas one brand C25-3 fail to meet the standard with average loss of 6.22%. All six brands of captopril tablet meet the standard of dissolution test and dissolved not < 80% in 20 minutes. In last all six brands of captopril tablet meet the standard of assay test and contain the captopril within 90-110%. It was concluded that all brands of Captopril tablets meet the standard of USP and are therapeutically equivalent, so Physicians can prescribe them cost-effectively and interchangeably.