The route of drug administration is defined as the path by which a drug is taken into the body. Drugs are administered varied by diagnosis, prevention, cure or treatment needed of diseases and other medical disorders. A drug must come in contact with the tissues of organs to achieve its desired effects.
The route of administration is determined of the drugs bioavailability and the duration of the pharmacological effect for each medical issue. The choice of administration route is determined by many factors such as: convenience, state of patient, desired onset of action, patient’s co-operation, the nature of the drug as some drugs may be effective by one route only, age of the patient and effect of gastric pH, digestive enzymes and first-pass metabolism.
The routes of administrations are classified into local and systematic routes.
Local route is the simplest mode of administration; but systemic absorption of a drug is more desirable. Systematic medications are usually administered by two main routes: the enteral and parenteral route.
Enteral route: involves absorption of the drug via the gastrointestinal tract—includes oral, sublingual and rectal administration.
Parenteral route: involves injection, inhalation and transdermal routes.
There are 7 main routes of drug administration: oral route, sublingual/ buccal route, rectal route, topical route, transdermal route, inhalation route/ pulmonary route and injection route.
Injection route is the second most common form of drug administration. It is important for manufacturers to ensure the quality of the drug due to the risk’s injections could cause. These risks include: infection, pain and local irritation. Once a product is injected, it enters the bloodstream of a patient and is impossible to remove. Therefore, inspection for parenteral drugs is extremely important for patient’s safety.
InQuest Science’s Identifier System focuses on reducing recalls with parenteral drugs. It tracks and traces defects in the drug product and materials involved with parenteral drugs. It forces data integrity, as well as ensures quality from multiple viewers. This cutting-edge system will only help drug manufactures push more product out to the markets, with less recalls; saving money and having less 483’s from the FDA.
