Aims & Learning Objectives:
To challenge students to solve typical problems of pharmecutical formulation, giving them experience of team work, poster presentation, experimental design, analytical methods in formulation, selection of criteria for optimisation, and establishment of specifications for pharmecutical products. After attending the course, students should be able to identify key issues in formulation of typical medicines, design a strategy for pre-formulation research, carry out such research, draw conclusions from the results, present those data in poster format and make recommendations for future work.
Content:
Students will work in small groups to study a number of formulation problems during the unit. Each week will involve preparation/tutorial work followed by practical work. Each group of students will study all problems during the course, and will be required to present a poster-style report on one of their projects, at the end of the unit. Formulation exercises will be selected from examples such as the following: dermatological gel formulation (including use of co-solvents, rheological analysis, preservation); cream formulation (inclusion of drugs, volume ratio of oil, rheological analysis, preservation); tablet formulation (wet granulation, compression conditions); opthalmic solutions (drug stability, buffering, isotonicity); parenteral solution formulation (as opthalmic); suspension formulation (wetting, flocculation, physical stability).
|
