Active pharmaceutical ingredient
Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) (pronunciation: /ˈæk.tɪv ˌfɑːr.məˈsuː.tɪ.kəl ˈɪn.griː.di.ənt/), also known as bulk drug substance or drug substance, is the part of any drug that produces the intended effects.
Etymology
The term "Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient" is derived from the words "active", meaning having a significant effect, "pharmaceutical", relating to medicinal drugs, and "ingredient", a component part of something.
Definition
APIs are the biologically active components in pharmaceutical drugs. They are the substances in drugs that have medicinal effects and provide health benefits. They are produced through various processes such as chemical synthesis, fermentation, rDNA technology, isolation and recovery from natural sources.
Related Terms
- Excipient: An inactive substance that serves as the vehicle or medium for a drug or other active substance.
- Formulation: The process in which different chemical substances, including the active drug, are combined to produce a final medicinal product.
- Pharmacodynamics: The study of the biochemical and physiological effects of drugs and their mechanisms of action.
- Pharmacokinetics: The study of how an organism affects a drug, including absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion.
See Also
- Drug discovery
- Drug development
- Pharmaceutical industry
- Pharmaceutical formulation
- Pharmaceutical manufacturing
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