Quality Evaluation of different Meloxicam brands marketed in Benghazi, Liby

Abstract

Abstract: Quality for pharmaceutical products means producing a drug that comply with specification or standardization applied by official organizations and regulations, without any error. Meloxicam is an oxicam derivative with non-steroidal anti -inflammatory properties. The aim of this study is to evaluate and compare different pharmaceutical brands of meloxicam available in the Libyan market to the pharmacopoeial standards. Five brands of 15mg meloxicam tablets within their shelf-life purchased from different pharmacies in Benghazi and coded A to E were used for quality test. The study indicated that all brands complied with the official specifications for weight uniformity, hardness, friability, and disintegration. However, Brand C did not meet the required limit of friability test. None of the brands pass the assay test of content and the dissolution test for all brands were very high compared with pharmacopeial limits. It is recommended that the Libyan authority performed more test to ensure that all drugs enter the market achieved the required standards and specifications according to the official regulations. Key words: Meloxicam, quality tests, pharmacopeia standards