BMC pharmacology & toxicology
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BMC Pharmacol Toxicol · Mar 2021
Patient safety and public health concerns: poor dissolution rate of pioglitazone tablets obtained from China, Myanmar and internet sites.
Poor quality medicines have serious implications for public health. The aim of this study was to explore the quality of the antidiabetic pioglitazone, using samples collected in China and Myanmar, and samples purchased online. ⋯ Despite the apparent satisfactory outcome on the samples from China, pioglitazone samples collected in Myanmar and purchased online for personal import into Japan included many substandard products, which failed quality assessment predominantly because of poor dissolution. Internet providers did not comply with Japanese regulations in various respects.