QUALITY EVALUATION OF PARACETAMOL TABLETS OBTAINED FROM THE COMMON SHOPS (KIOSKS) IN ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA

The effectiveness of drugs is directly related to the quality thus quality evaluations of medications throughout the production process and distribution are very essential. Counterfeit medications are known to have poor quality as the medications are in the market without the consent of the regulatory body. A total of 11 samples of paracetamol tablets were collected from kiosks, one from each sub city of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia except Addis Ketema where Merkato (the biggest open market in Africa) is located in which two sampling sites were selected. The tablets were assessed for different quality parameters; weight variation, friability, diameter, thickness, assay, disintegration and dissolution using compendial methods. The weight variation, friability, diameter and thickness results were in accordance with the British Pharmacopeia for all samples. The samples also comply with the BP disintegration requirements except a sample from Bole sub city, Paracetamol EPHARM (2110743). The dissolution profiles of the two brands (Asmol and Kelvin) and a generic Paracetamol, EPHARM were evaluated and the results show that all the samples investigated were within the limit set by the Pharmacopeia. All of the samples passed the assay test except Asmol (B0523). In general, the results are in accordance with the previous quality evaluation studies done for Paracetamol tablets obtained from legal markets thus the source of the medication in the illegal vendors might not be necessarily from counterfeiting. This could be due to the fact that Paracetamol tablets are relatively cheaper than other medicines and are over the counter (OTC) products. However, quality evaluation of medications available in the illegal markets in Ethiopia as well as law enforcement should be done to protect the society from counterfeited drugs.