Safety issues with ethanol as an excipient in drugs intended for pediatric use

@article{Zuccotti2011SafetyIW,
  title={Safety issues with ethanol as an excipient in drugs intended for pediatric use},
  author={Gianna Zuccotti and Valentina Fabiano},
  journal={Expert Opinion on Drug Safety},
  year={2011},
  volume={10},
  pages={499 - 502},
  url={https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:41876817}
}
Newborns, infants and children are not able to metabolize ethanol as efficiently as adults; as a consequence, they may be at higher risk of both acute and chronic alcohol-related toxicities.

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The role of alcohol as an excipients is explained and the information available on the impact of alcoholAs an excipient on babies and children is assessed and work in progress to address the issues around excipient use in paediatric formulations is looked at.

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The question is: are patients at risk of developing undesirable health effects and adverse outcomes from excipients?

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A 4-month-old infant presenting to the emergency department with acute life-threatening intoxication including altered mental status, impaired coordination of movements, as well as a positive urine drug test for phencyclidine and an elevated serum ethanol level, was found to be over-the-counter cough syrup.

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The Handbook of Pharmaceutical Excipients is internationally recognised as the authoritative source of information on pharmaceutical excipients giving a comprehensive guide to uses, properties and…