Comparative bioavailability studies on brands of diazepam tablets.

The chemical and biological equivalence of two brands of diazepam tablets marketed in Nigeria were compared to that of Valium (Roche) tablets. The tablets used were Relanium (Polfa) and Tropium (Biode). Bioequivalence studies of the brands were carried out on nine healthy volunteers by monitoring the cumulative diazepam excreted as oxazepam (both free and conjugated) in urine over 48 h. The bioequivalence of Relanium was found not to be significantly different from that of Valium while that of Tropium was significantly different from that of Valium (P less than 0.05). The results of the investigation showed that the drug products were all chemical equivalents but not biological equivalents.