Is My Prescription Effective?

Today, more than ever, people pay close attention to medical treatments recommended by their health professionals.  We know when the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) approves a chemical cocktail for treatment or prevention of SARS-Cov-2 (a.k.a. COVID-19), because there is an urgent need for relief from this unpredictable, dangerous disease. 

But other times, when your doctor prescribes a drug, do you wonder how anyone knows its effectiveness against your illness or condition?  The FDA requires that drug and biologic manufacturers prove the product is safe, effective and high quality.  To ensure those safety requirements are met, the FDA tests randomly chosen drugs in its own laboratories. 

But long before those drugs are selected and tested in FDA labs, a chemical analysis lab, like NSL Analytical Services, must analyze the individual components as well as the resulting chemical compound for identity, strength, purity and bioavailability.   Useful tests performed by NSL for this application include chemical trace analysis, elemental trace analysis, failure analysis, contamination analysis and materials analysis and testing. These tests can help determine the following characteristics of a drug’s:

Identity: Does the drug identified by the chemical analysis lab match the drug indicated by the package label?

Assay: How much of the active ingredient is present and is it consistent with the label information?

Impurities: Are there process impurities or degradation impurities? 

Dissolution: Does the active ingredient dissolve out of the dosage unit so that the drug may be absorbed by the body?

Before the drug is available for your doctor to prescribe, it will have been tested by the manufacturing pharmaceutical firm and sometimes also tested by an objective materials testing lab like NSL Analytical Services, because the drug must not only work, but it must be a safe choice for patients who need the healing power it can deliver.

NSL Analytical Services offers a wide variety of materials testing for product manufacture and regulatory compliance.  If you have an interest in materials testing service you can trust, contact NSL Analytical Services or call (877) 560-3943 for more information on the array of testing services available.