You receive a prescription in your pharmacy with the following details:

Patient: ABC,

Address:_______________

Age: 40 Years

Sex: Female

Prescription: Cod liver oil 30% v/v emulsion

Directions: 10 ml tds ac
Mitte: 200 ml
Mitte means send.
ac for ante cibum means before meal.
Use of the product:
Used as a source of vitamin A and D. Also contains several unsaturated fatty acids (Martindale31st
edn, p 1357).
2. Is it safe and suitable for the intended purpose?
As a prophylactic against rickets, the dose of Cod Liver Oil is not more than 10 ml/day, allowance
being made for vitamin D obtained from other sources (British Pharmaceutical Codex 1973, p 124).
The dose of this product on the prescription is 10 ml three times a day, giving a total daily dose of
30 ml. As the product will contain 30% cod liver oil, this gives a dose of (30 100) 30 = 9 ml cod
liver oil per day. Therefore the dose is safe and suitable.
3. Calculation of formula for preparation
Prepare 200 ml of Cod Liver Oil 30% emulsion.
Product Formula
S. No
1.
2.
3.
4.

Name of Ingredients
Cod Liver Oil BP
Acacia BP
Double Strength Chloroform Water BP
Freshly boiled and cooled purified water

Master Formula
30 ml
qs
50 ml
to 100 ml

Formula Used
60 ml
qs
100 ml
to 200 ml

The quantity of emulsifying agent (Acacia BP) required to produce 200 ml of the emulsion
must be calculated.
Formula for primary emulsion
Cod Liver Oil BP is a fixed oil. Therefore the primary emulsion ratio is:
Oil: Water: Gum
4:2:1
60 ml of Cod Liver Oil BP is required, therefore 4 parts = 60 ml.
1 part will therefore be 60 4 = 15.
Therefore:

The amount of freshly boiled and cooled purified water needed = 2 15 ml = 30 ml.
The amount of Acacia BP required = 15 g.
Therefore the product formula for 200 ml of Cod Liver Oil 30% emulsion is:
S. No
1.
2.
3.
4.

Name of Ingredients
Cod Liver Oil BP
Acacia BP
Double Strength Chloroform Water BP
Freshly boiled and cooled purified water

Formula Used
60 ml
15 g
100 ml
to 200 ml

Interim formula for Double Strength Chloroform Water BP

Concentrated Chloroform Water BPC 1959

5 ml

Freshly boiled and cooled purified water

to 100 ml

4. Method of preparation
a. Solubility where applicable
Not applicable.
b. Vehicle/diluent
As emulsions are particularly susceptible to microbial contamination, Double Strength Chloroform
Water BP will be used as the vehicle at a concentration of 50%. Freshly boiled and cooled purified
water will be used as the remainder of the vehicle. As freshly boiled and cooled purified water is
used in the product, it will also be used to make the Double Strength Chloroform Water BP.
c. Preservative
Double Strength Chloroform Water BP is included in this product as the preservative.
d. Flavouring when appropriate
No extra flavouring is required. In addition to preservative action, Double Strength Chloroform
Water BP will give some flavouring.
The following method would be used to prepare 200 ml of Cod Liver Oil 30% emulsion from the
formula above:
1. Calculate the composition of a convenient quantity of Double Strength Chloroform Water BP,
sufficient to satisfy the formula requirements but also enabling simple, accurate measurement of the
concentrated component.