Semi-solids, gels, creams
Creams and gels are semi-solid dosage forms that posses a relatively fluid consistency formulated as either water-in-oil or oil-in-water - containing more than 20% water or volatile components. For pharmaceutical use, they also contain one or more drug substances dissolved or dispersed in a suitable base. The controlled environment of flow-through cell dissolution (Apparatus 4, according to USP <711> and Ph. Eur. 2.9.3) has proven to be a highly effective method for testing drug release properties of different semi-solids.
Quality control tests
The following tests are routinely performed for semi-solids such as gels and creams using SOTAX instruments:
- Dissolution USP 1/2/5/6
- Dissolution USP 4
- Content Uniformity