Abstract
Metronidazole is an antiprotozoal drug which is also effective against anaerobic bacteria. The availability of several brands of Metronidazole tablets in Libyan pharmacies today places health practitioners and a pharmacist in a problem of drug substitution in case of a particular brand is not available. The aim of the present study was the evaluation and comparison of pharmaceutical equivalence of five different Metronidazole coated tablets 500 mg, which are commercially available in the private pharmacies in Tripoli city, produced by various pharmaceutical companies with different trade names. The pharmaceutical quality of five brands of Metronidazole tablets was analyzed using official and unofficial quality control tests prescribed in different Pharmacopoeia including uniformity of weight, thickness, hardness, disintegration time, drug content as well as dissolution rate and assay. Acceptable external features as well as uniformity in diameter and thickness were revealed for all the tablets. The entire selected brands complied with the official specifications for uniformity of weight, hardness and disintegration, they released more than 75% of their drug content within 45 minutes. It can be concluded that all the brands could be regarded as bioequivalent and therefore can be interchanged in the clinical practice; this sort of study is good indicator for the evaluation of the idealness of commercial products and showed the importance of post marketing investigation for the drugs imported and distributed in Libya.