Basics: Excipients Used in Nonsterile Compounding, Part 6: Compounding with Viscosity-increasing Agents.

Viscosity plays many roles in pharmaceutical dosage forms, especially solutions, suspensions, emulsions and gels. It is important in increasing both physical and chemical stability as well as enhancing patient compliance by making drug products easier to handle and administer. There are numerous different viscosity-enhancing agents that can be used and tailored to specific needs based upon their solubility, pH range of effectiveness, concentration required, esthetics, and other factors. Preparation and proper incorporation into dosage forms is important to obtain the desired characteristics of the finished drug product as well as assuring microbial stability. Appropriate viscosity- increasing additives can aid in ensuring patient compliance with the compounded medication.