FORMULATION AND EVALUATION OF PARACETAMOL SUPPOSITORIES CONTAINING MENTHOL AS A COOLING AGENT

The purpose of this research is to formulate and evaluate Paracetamol suppositories that contain menthol as a cooling agent. Since oral administration is difficult or impossible with certain groups of people, such as children, elderly patients, comatose patients, and those suffering from nausea/vomiting, suppositories can be used as an alternate route of administration. Paracetamol was chosen because it has long been recognized as an analgesic and antipyretic. Menthol was added to the suppositories to produce a localized cooling sensation. The suppositories were produced by a fusion molding technique using two different grades of polyethylene glycol (PEG 4000 and PEG 1500) as bases. In addition to evaluating their effectiveness based upon their physicochemical properties (physical appearance, weight variation, drug content homogeneity, hardness, melting point and disintegration times), all suppository formulations passed. However, among these formulations, F5 was found to have the greatest percentage of drug released during the test period and therefore the shortest disintegration time and thus was identified as the most optimal formulation.