Pharmacopoieal quality of non-expired and expired nifedipine formulations from Estonian and Russian Federation medicinal products market.

The pharmacopoeial quality of non-expired and expired nifedipine tablets of the same batches purchased from the Estonian and Russian Federation medicinal product markets was evaluated. The IR spectroscopy, HPLC analysis for quantitative content and purity of the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API), and dissolution test techniques were applied. In the experiments with non-expired nifedipine tablets, in all Estonian (n = 8, label claims 10, 20, and 40 mg) and Russian Federation (n = 4, label claim 10 mg) registered formulations the API was identified and quantified as nifedipine in amounts set by the European Pharmacopoeia and without exceeding the tolerance limits for the impurities. The dissolution rate was variable but all 10 and 20 mg non-expired nifedipine tablets released at least 80% of API in 12 h. The expiration of the nifedipine tablets led to somewhat increased dissolution rate while only traces of the nifedipine degradation products were discovered in the dissolution medium. In conclusion, our present study shows that with minor variations the Estonian and Russian Federation registered nifedipine tablets are comparable, the API preserves well beyond the expiration date but the expired nifedipine tablets may release the API faster than the non-expired tablets.