Summary
Highlights
Pharmaceutical dosage forms package active drugs to ensure stability, good taste, ease of use, and patient compliance. These formulations often require excipients, which are additional substances that guarantee stability and bioavailability, varying based on the dosage form. Advantages include protecting the drug, maintaining stability, masking unpleasant tastes, and providing optimal drug action.
Enteral dosage forms are classified based on their routes of administration (oral, buccal, sublingual, respiratory, rectal) and physical form. Solid forms include powders, tablets (compressed, coated, slow-release), and capsules/suppositories. Liquid forms encompass solutions, suspensions, emulsions, elixirs, oral drops, and syrups.
Powders are dry, finely divided drugs, suitable for children and adults with swallowing difficulties, offering dose flexibility but unable to mask unpleasant tastes. Tablets include various types: sublingual for rapid absorption under the tongue, lozenges for slow dissolution and local effects, chewable tablets for easy consumption and local/systemic effects, dispersible tablets that quickly dissolve on the tongue for pediatric/geriatric patients, effervescent tablets that fizz in water for a fresh sensation, and caplets for shape variation.
Film-coated tablets enhance palatability and appearance. Sugar-coated tablets (dragees) offer protection against air, moisture, sunlight, and mask bad tastes. Enteric-coated tablets resist dissolution in the stomach but release in the intestine, protecting the stomach from irritating drugs or the drug from stomach acid. Slow-release tablets provide sustained drug concentration over time, offering constant action and less frequent administration, but pose an overdose risk if manufacturing fails and can be expensive.
Hard capsules contain dry medical substances like powder or granules, masking taste and dissolving readily in gastric juices, suitable for those with swallowing difficulties. Soft capsules have an elastic shell made from gelatin, glycerin, and sorbitol, containing liquid or volatile substances. Capsules are generally tasteless but sensitive to moisture.
Oral solutions are clear, homogeneous liquids, suitable for children and those with swallowing difficulties but given in large volumes. Suspensions are for insoluble drugs in water, often cloudy and requiring a suspensator; absorption depends on particle size, and precipitation can occur. Emulsions are two-phase liquid systems (oil-in-water or water-in-oil), covering unpleasant tastes, improving absorption, and suitable for children, but less stable in acidic conditions and prone to segregation over time.
Elixirs are clear, sweet, hydroalcoholic solutions, good for insoluble drugs and less viscous than syrups, but not suitable for children or those avoiding alcohol. Syrups are concentrated sugar solutions in water, available as liquid or dry forms (requiring reconstitution). Both are palatable, fast-acting, and suitable for children, but dry syrups have limited stability after reconstitution. Oral drops deliver small doses, measured with a pipette, suitable for babies, but expensive and require accuracy.
Rectal suppositories offer an alternative route when oral administration is difficult due to intolerance, nausea, or unconsciousness. They act rapidly (within 15 minutes) and bypass first-pass metabolism, but absorption can be uncertain and cause local irritation. Rectal solutions can achieve systemic effects (e.g., for nausea, pain, asthma) or local effects (e.g., for constipation, hemorrhoids).
The video concludes by explaining drug classification symbols in Indonesia: a red circle for prescription drugs (obat keras), a blue circle for limited over-the-counter (OTC) drugs (obat bebas terbatas), and a green circle for general OTC drugs (obat bebas). It also details the PPOM registration number codes, where letters indicate prescription (K), limited OTC (T), OTC (B), brand name (D), generic (G), or local goods (L).