Comparative quality assessment of six commercial brands of metronidazole infusions sold in Abuja, Nigeria

Influx of substandard drugs as reported by the drug regulatory agency in Nigeria has necessitated the need to assess the quality of frequently used drugs of which metronidazole infusion is not exempted. Metronidazole infusion is mostly prescribed for pre and post-operative surgery to prevent infections from developing. This study was carried out to assess the quality of six commercial brands of metronidazole infusions sold in Abuja, Nigeria. Six brands of metronidazole infusions were randomly purchased from some Pharmacy stores in Abuja for chemical and microbiological assays. Five (83.3%) of the samples had percentage contents ranging from 95-110% which is within BP specification. The pH values of the whole samples were within BP specification of 4.5 to 6.0 which range from 4.9 to 5.8. The result of the microbiological analysis indicated zero colony forming unit (cfu) from all the samples, this is in conformity with official specification for parenteral formulations. Similarly, all the brands passed pyrogen test. Based on the percentage content result, five brands of the samples analyzed have been found to be fit for human use while one failed.