Ellen Campbell -Grizzle - PHARMACY TODAY JAMAICANS WERE recently reminded of the value of time and punctuality with the unveiling of the refurbished Half-Way-Tree clock. Timing is intrinsic to the success of all medication regimens. The pharmaceutical industry has engineered several medicines to include various types of timing devices. There are slow-release tablets and capsules and metered-dose insulin and inhalers, just to name a few.
Although we do not hear the characteristic tick-tock of a clock inside of our bodies, these medications give patients sustained relief. Metered- medication delivery systems help to ensure that the body receives the correct amount of medicine at the appropriate time. Usually patients enjoy the convenience of taking their medication once or twice per day and this has eased the burden on several persons living with HIV/AIDS who can now take fewer doses. The body is also spared the marked dosage fluctuations that can occur when a patient forgets to take the medication at the correct time.
Many cough and cold capsules keep symptoms away for 12 hours because they are made using these continuous action formulae. The technology used provides a tablet or capsule containing several tiny pills or beadlets in which:
- each pill or beadlet is sprayed with liquid medicines and then dried
- each pill or beadlet contains all active ingredients
- some pills or beadlets are left uncoated for immediate action while others
are coated with a wax film to delay drug release
- some are coated with wax of various thickness so that each pill or beadlet
dissolves at varying intervals releasing the drug continuously.
Patients who are taking continuous-action medication must follow instructions given by the pharmacist. Most of these tablets cannot be taken in halves or quarters because the medication is not necessarily evenly distributed within the tablet. It is important not to exceed the daily dosage, chew these tablets or to open the capsules or crush the tablets for mixing in water or other liquids.
Another innovation of the timing technology is the embedding of medication in a matrix. After the tablet is swallowed, the drug is slowly released and when the matrix is empty, it is passed out in the faeces. Some patients are amazed when they see this strange object in their stool.
The pharmaceutical industry has used the concept of timing to produce very innovative products that provide greater convenience to the consumer. However, these new and innovative delivery systems are usually more expensive.
With these time pills, you must remember to follow the instructions given by your pharmacist as there are other drugs or foods that may delay or speed up the release of your medication, thus affecting the outcome of your treatment. If you want to know more about how any delivery system will affect the course of your medication and the required precautions, ask your pharmacist, you have the right to know!
Ellen Campbell Grizzle, President of the Caribbean Association of Pharmacists (CAP) and Director, Information and Research, National Council on Drug Abuse (NCDA), Kingston, Jamaica.
