Eva Rahman Kabir

A pragmatic approach to the analysis of a combination formulation

The aim of the paper was to formulate a combined oral dosage form of rosuvastatin calcium and amlodipine besylate and to develop and validate an analytical method to be adopted for both routine quality control assay and in vitro dissolution studies of the formulation. The proposed combination formulation has shown compatibility with the chosen excipients, verified through FT-IR study. A novel gradient RP-HPLC method was developed and validated according to the ICH guideline which was found to be suitable for the simultaneous estimation of rosuvastatin calcium and amlodipine besylate from the formulation. The retention time of 2.7 and 6.08 min allows the analysis of large amount of samples with less mobile phase which makes the method economic. The dissolution profiles of both the drugs in different dissolution medium were encouraging which makes the combination formulation of rosuvastatin calcium and amlodipine besylate superior and effective in achieving patient compliance.

Different approaches in the treatment of obstructive pulmonary diseases

Advances in drug formulation, inhalation device design and disease management are generating new opportunities for patients suffering from obstructive pulmonary diseases. This article provides a comprehensive review of the different promising pulmonary drug delivery technologies in the treatment of obstructive pulmonary diseases, particularly with regard to the treatment of asthma and chronic pulmonary diseases (COPD), which are increasing day by day due to increasing environmental pollution and its harmful and toxic contaminants. In the recent years, a better knowledge has been gained regarding the mechanism of action of glucocorticoids and how they suppress the chronic inflammation. New etiology has been brought into light regarding the inactivity of glucocorticoids in some patients having asthma and COPDs even though the inflammatory genes are triggered by similar molecules in both the diseases. This new knowledge has given a new platform to improve glucocorticoids and their resistance also how other combination therapy can be used for these diseases. It has also led to the quest for improving and developing other alternatives such as anti-leukotriene agents, muscarinic inhibitors, combination therapy, as well as biologic immune-modulators in the treatment of the different pulmonary diseases. Several new combinations of glucocorticoids are available in the global market for the use in pulmonary diseases especially asthma although their availability fluctuates between continents. There has been several studies done regarding the variation of effectiveness of the different inhaled glucocorticoids and hence it is important to take into consideration the different delivery systems and the methods which are used to treat the patients.

Study on the factors ruling pharmaceutical product management in Bangladesh

The objective of the study was to report on an investigation into the future of the product management concept in the Bangladesh pharmaceutical market, using the top companies as a representative m...

An Empirical Analysis of the Perceived Challenges and Benefits of Introducing Biosimilars in Bangladesh: A Paradigm Shift

The high demand for and resulting financial success of biopharmaceutical products over the last three decades have seen the door open for close copies of these biological products, also known as biosimilars. This paper seeks to collate all relevant published intelligence with acquired survey data to assess the weight of available evidence that these products hold immense potential for the pharmaceutical industry in terms of their applications and benefits. Biosimilars also pose to be of great promise to the Bangladesh pharmaceutical industry, with the commitment of drastically reducing its dependence on foreign imports of biopharmaceutics to meet local demand. Our questionnaire based survey involved 100 Clinicians, 50 Industry Experts and 100 Academicians. The study found that majority of Industry Experts (72%) and Academicians (63%) shared a different concept of biosimilars opposed to majority of Clinicians (78%). Majority of Academicians (68%) and Industry Experts (61%) also shared a different belief from that of most Clinicians (61%) regarding the need for updating the existing regulatory guidelines. The study also showed that Clinicians (67%), Industry Experts (83%) and Academicians (80%) highlighted the benefit of lower costs of biosimilars. Furthermore, the quality data obtained from the survey results allowed us to evaluate and provide recommendations for stakeholders on the need for increased biosimilar awareness, pharmacovigilance and safety in Bangladesh.

Drug Repurposing: Targeting mTOR Inhibitors for Anticancer Activity

In the search of safer and more effective drugs while reducing costs and increasing productivity of novel drug discovery, scientists are changing their focus to an approach known as drug repurposing. This involves finding a new therapeutic effect of an already existing drug. It is a method that can effectively be addressed in the drug discovery and development challenges of targeting different disorders. Many drugs which have failed clinical trials for not being effective in their intended therapeutic indication have also been repurposed which has been of great benefit for pharmaceutical industries. For instance, sildenafil failed its clinical trials and was repurposed and currently in use as a repurposed drug. Many methods are available for drug repurposing but in silico method is a cost effective and convenient method for drug repurposing which uses computer software to find a possible binding site of a drug within a protein. For its advantages, computational docking approach was used for the present drug repurposing study of mTOR protein, where the drugs chosen were metformin, aspirin and rosuvastatin. Autodock Vina and PyMOL was used to complete the study and it was found that aspirin and metformin have poor affinity (-5.8 kcal/mol) for this protein which is upregulated in various types of cancer such as breast cancer and ovarian cancer. On the other hand, rosuvastatin was found to have a high affinity (-7.8 kcal/mol in case of flexible docking and -10.2 kcal/mol in case of rigid docking) for mTOR and binds to the same binding pocket where the immunosuppressant and anticancer drug rapamycin binds. The study therefore indicates that rosuvastatin might have significant immunosuppressive and anticancer activity by downregulating the activity of mTOR and needs further studies to prove it.

In Silico Structure Based Designing of Dihydrofolate Reductase Enzyme Antagonists and Potential Small Molecules That Target DHFR Protein to Inhibit the Folic Acid Biosynthetic Pathways

Cancer has several pathways by which it is developed in our body. Among them folic acid biosynthetic pathway is one where dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) enzyme converts dihydrofolate into tetrahydrofolate which leads to unwanted and uncontrollable growth of tissues. Our aim of this study is to design DHFR antagonistic potential small molecules that inhibits Folic Acid Biosynthetic Pathways. In this study, Human DHFR obtained from Protein Data Bank (PDB) docked with several established anticancer drugs including Afatinib, Doxorubicin, Trimetrexate, Curcumin & Trimethoprim and several potential small molecules including Acarbose, Adenosine monophosphate, Abacavir, Aceprometazine & Isoxyl; obtained from PubChem and Drug Bank respectively. PyMOL and PyRx were used to visualize, curate and dock. For validation purpose Discovery Studio and Ramachandran Plot were run. Results after docking showed best binding affinities of established anticancer drugs with Human DHFR throughout the generations for example Methotrexate to Trimethoprim. Potential small molecules which belong from different therapeutic classes.