Another facet of pharmaceutical research that has attracted wide medical attention is the "availability" to the body (bioavailability) of various dosage forms of drugs.
It contains technical sections on (1) chemistry, manufacturing, and dosage forms, (2) animal pharmacology and toxicology, (3) human pharmacokinetics and bioavailability, (4) comprehensive results of clinical trials, (5) statistics, and (6) microbiology (in the case of anti-infective or antiviral drugs).
Ingenious methods have been devised to test the bioavailability of dosage forms.
Although such in vitro, or test-tube, methods are useful and indicative, the ultimate test of bioavailability is the patient's response to the dosage form of the drug.
Photochemical reactions involving DOC can influence the chemistry of vital trace nutrients such as iron, and, even at dissolved concentrations on the order of one nanomole/kg (1 × 10−9 mole/kg), dissolved organic substances in the upper ocean waters are capable of greatly altering the bioavailability of essential trace nutrients, as, for example, copper and zinc.
And there is a new brand on the shelves, too: Zubsolv, which its manufacturer, Orexo, says has "higher bioavailability, faster dissolve time and smaller tablet size with a new menthol taste".
"I don't think processing will decrease the benefits, and it may actually improve the bioavailability of some bioactive compounds," like flavonoids, said Dr. Liu, who has studied the benefits of eating nuts.
According to the Food and Drug Administration, makers of generic drugs must scientifically demonstrate that they are "bioequivalent" through their "bioavailability," meaning that the generic drug has to be absorbed into the bloodstream at a similar rate as the brand-name drug.
However, it is rare for any generic to deliver exactly the same amount of drug as the original, so the current accepted standard for bioavailability can range from 80 to 125 percent of the brand-name drug's delivery system.
Normally they have very low bioavailability," he says.
"There is definitely potential for improving the bioavailability of these particles".
