What is an Excipient?
An excipient is an inactive ingredient which is added to a pharmaceutical compound. There are a number of reasons to use excipients, ranging from a desire to conceal unpleasant flavors to the need to precisely control dosages. As a general rule, drug companies must be able to prove that an excipient is safe for use before they can sell a drug which contains the product, and inactive ingredients may need to be listed on drug labels to comply with the law. People have been using excipients in drug delivery for centuries. Historically, for example, medicines were often mixed with honey or syrup to mask the flavor so that children would take them. This use of excipient conceals flavor and eases delivery. Other excipients may be added to drugs as diluents, in the case of drugs with potent active ingredients, to make it easier to provide accurate doses by making the medicine more bulky. An inactive ingredient may facilitate the absorption of a drug into the body, or slow the rate at which a
