Evaluation of Drug Quality (III): Determination of Ciprofloxacin Hydrochloride Concentration in Pharmaceutical Tablets

Abstract

The concentration of ciprofloxacin hydrochloride tablets in the Nigerian market was analyzed using both back-titration and UV-visible spectrophotometric methods. The results obtained showed that different brands contained different concentrations of the drug; some brands contained lower concentrations while others were in good agreement with stated label strength. It was observed that the results obtained from the back-titration method showed only two of the five brands were within the BP specification whereas results obtained from UV-visible spectrophotometric method were close to one another and all five brands analyzed were within the Pharmacopoeia specifications The discrepancies in results from the two methods were interpreted in terms of differences in sensitivities of the methods. It was concluded that the UV-visible spectrophotometric method was more accurate and sensitive and gave better results than the back-titration method, which is dependent on individual judgement of the person performing the experiments.