CHAPTER 13: User-friendly Medicines

This chapter discusses the concept of user-friendly medicine and its importance in dosage forms. The oral route remains the mainstay of methods of dosing with medicines on the grounds of cost, convenience and public familiarity. Although alternative routes, for example skin and lung, exploiting developments in drug delivery technology have become popular through the last two decades the cost of goods is significant and many oral formulations can be produced at lower costs, allowing a wide range of generic alternatives. For certain patients mobility, motor and cognitive functions may be an issue and user-friendliness of the medicine a concern for both patient and carer. A medicine that is consumed according to the intended schedule is better than the cheapest medicine, which may be disliked by the patient.