The unspoken designers of effective drug treatment

Medicine has been related to the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API), the chemical compound that produces therapeutic effect. However, the path between the discovery in a laboratory and a pill in your hand cannot be fully made without excipients.

- DR K ANITHA

The Unsung Heroes of Medicine - Excipients

These apparently passive substances are very important in determining that drugs are safe, effective, stable and friendly to the patient. This article immerses you into the intriguing world of excipients, how they are, the roles they play, the problematic issues associated with them, and the future of their application in pharmaceuticals.

An excipient is any substance besides the active drug which is incorporated in a pharmaceutical preparation. They do not have therapeutic effects by their own, but are required to ensure stability, usability, and bioavailability of the formulation.

Excipient is a word derived in Latin as excipere, which is translated to mean take out or except, meaning that these are ingredients that are not the active component, but rather part of the medicine. In the contemporary pharmaceutical, excipients are solids, liquids or gases, as the shape of dosage form-tablet, capsules, syrup, injectables or topical preparations. They do not merely hold the drug together: they do determine dissolution rates, absorption, shelf life, taste and general patient compliance. Most medicines would be in practical, ineffective or even unsafe without the presence of excipients.

Historical Perspective of Excipients