IMPLEMENTATION OF A NEW LABORATORY PRACTICE IN PHARMACEUTICAL TECHNOLOGY AND ANALYSIS TEACHING: GRANULATION PROCESS AND QUANTITATIVE DETERMINATION

M. VARILLAS; P. NATALINI; L. GALLO; L. CHANAMPA; M. BREVEDAN; N. GONZALEZ VIDAL; M. F. RAZUC; A. CALCAGNO

Rosario

Congreso; 4ta. Reunión Internacional de Ciencias Farmacéuticas; 2016

The development of a pharmacy laboratory practice that supplements lecture material allows students to apply the knowledge they gained to a specific scenario. Besides, the implementation of a practice, jointly by Pharmaceutical Technology (PT) and Quality Control of Pharmaceuticals (QC), establishes an excellent method to integrate, reinforce, and enhance the process of learning. The aim of this work was to develop a new practical activity, in order to allow pharmacy students to make a connection between technological and analytical concepts.The activity was designed to be executed by groups, and assisted by the teachers. The practice consists in the formulation of Metformin (MET) granules and evaluation of MET content by UV-Vis spectrophotometry in PT and QC courses, respectively. In the PT course, a wet granulation process will be applied, using MET (90.2% of total solids), corn starch (as binder) and purified water. The granulate flowability, as well as the granulation process yield, will be determined. In the QC class, students will perform the determination of MET content in the manufactured granules, using a pharmacopeial method by UV-Vis spectrophotometry. The linearity of this methodology will be checked in a previous laboratory practice. To complete the entire practice, students will present a written report.The activities were previously performed by the teaching assistants from both courses. The results indicated that the yield of the process was 74%, and the granules obtained showed good flowability properties. The content of MET in the granules was 86.5%, with a relative standard error of 4.2%. These results indicate the viability to implement this new activity.In conclusion, a laboratory practice was designed, to help pharmacy students to gain experience in pharmaceutical technology and analysis, and improve their confidence on laboratory skills. The implementation of a joint activity would strengthen the interrelation of concepts of both subjects.