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Objective To explore medical and pharmacy students' knowledge and perception towards the use of generic medicines in Bangladesh. Method A convenience sample was drawn from six Bangladeshi universities/medical colleges using an 18‐item questionnaire. A total of n = 398 pharmacy and medical students were approached to participate. Scoring of responses was done for the 10 items in the perception section (score range 0–10). Data was analysed using SPSS version 13 and the difference among the groups were estimated using independent samples t‐test. Results A total of 346 students willingly participated in this study, which amounted to a response rate of 86.93%. About 85.5% of the respondents indicated that they had heard about generic and branded medicines. From both groups 70–80% were able to distinguish between generic and branded medicines. There were significant differences in knowledge among the pharmacy (4.86 ± 1.55) and medical (4.20 ± 1.62) students (P < 0.001, t = 3.83, 95% confidence interval 0.323–1.00). Conclusion Overall, there were knowledge deficits in both groups with a moderate level of perception about generic medicine.

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A highly sensitive, precise, and accurate reversed-phase high-performance liquid-chromatography/ electrochemical detection method for simultaneous determination of the endogenous free a-lipoic acid and dihydrolipoic acid in biological matrices was developed and validated. The two analytes were extracted from the samples with acetonitrile/10% metaphosphoric acid solution (aqueous) (50/50 v/v). To determine the total lipoic acid, samples were treated with tris(2-carboxyethyl)phosphine solution in phosphate buffer, pH 2.5 with 85% orthophosphoric acid prior to deproteination. The two analytes were separated on a C 18 (150 9 4.6 mm, 5 lm) analytical column using acetonitrile-50 mM phosphate buffer, pH 2.5 with 85% orthophosphoric acid (35/65 v/v) as the isocratic mobile phase pumped at a flow rate of 2.0 mL min -1 at the column oven temperature of 35°C. The column eluents were monitored at a potential of 0.9 V. These analytes were efficiently resolved in \7 min. The present method was sufficiently robust and specific for simultaneous determination of the two analytes and demonstrated acceptable values for linearity (r 2 = 0.999 in the range of 0.1-500 and 0.25-1,000 ng mL -1 for a-lipoic acid and dihydrolipoic acid, respectively), recovery ([97%), precision (RSD% \2), and sensitivity (on column limit of detection, 150 and 375 fg for a-lipoic acid and dihydrolipoic acid, respectively and limit of quantification: 0.5 and 1.25 pg for a-lipoic acid and dihydrolipoic acid, respectively), indicating that the proposed method was more sensitive, precise, economical, and versatile, and has higher throughput than the previously reported methods for simultaneous determination of the two analytes.

Drug release from polymeric matrix systems is the rate-limiting step for drug bioavailability and is determined by drug solubility; most drugs show pH-dependent solubility. Polymeric matrices remain in the gastrointestinal tract for a longer period of time and are exposed to environments of varying pH, which can adversely affect drug release. In the present study, the pH-independent drug release of domperidone was achieved by modifying the microenvironmental pH of a swollen polymeric matrix using acidic excipients (citric acid and tartaric acid). Matrices were prepared by a water-based, wet-granulation technique and evaluated for various official and unofficial parameters. In vitro drug release was studied using USP dissolution apparatus and pH 6.80 phosphate buffer as dissolution medium. Release kinetics was evaluated according to various mathematical models.Results show that domperidone release can be effectively modified by inclusion of acidic excipients in the formulations. Acidic excipients modulated microenvironmental pH and avoided the effect of dissolution medium pH on drug release. The resultant formulations are easy to prepare and scale up for commercial manufacturing. Better pH-independent release, following zero-order kinetics, was achieved with tartaric acid.