Abstract:
Atenolol, a cardiovascular drug, is mainly used to reduce blood pressure and available
worldwide under various trade names. The purpose of the current study is to ascertain
physicochemical equivalence among the five different brands of atenolol 100 mg tablets
commercially obtainable in Bangladesh. The sample tablets were examined for their weight
variation, hardness, thickness, friability and disintegration time as well as dissolution time were
evaluated spectrophotometrically conferring to the official (BP/USP) methods. The results showed
that all brands of tablets showed satisfied results when they were tested for weight variation,
hardness, thickness, friability, disintegration time and dissolution time. All the five brands were
disintegrate within 15 minutes which comply the USP/BP recommendation. The tested brands
were identical according to their dissolution evaluation. All brands showed more than 90 % drug
release within 45 minutes and ranged from 99.09% to 100.98%. It can be summarized that the
physicochemical properties of all five brands of atenolol tablets marketed in Bangladesh meet
BP/USP specifications which indicated that they are pharmaceutically equivalent. Therefore,
patients can safely choose anyone of the brands.
