"Inactive" ingredients in oral medications

Daniel Reker; Steven M Blum; Christoph Steiger; Kevin E Anger; Jamie M Sommer; John Fanikos; Giovanni Traverso

doi:10.1126/scitranslmed.aau6753

"Inactive" ingredients in oral medications

Sci Transl Med. 2019 Mar 13;11(483):eaau6753. doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.aau6753.

Authors

Daniel Reker^{1

2

3}, Steven M Blum^{1

4

5}, Christoph Steiger^{1

2

3}, Kevin E Anger⁴, Jamie M Sommer⁶, John Fanikos⁶, Giovanni Traverso^{7

2

3

4

8}

Affiliations

¹ Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
² Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Endoscopy, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
³ MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
⁴ Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
⁵ Department of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
⁶ Investigational Drug Service, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
⁷ Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. ctraverso@bwh.harvard.edu cgt20@mit.edu.
⁸ Department of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.

Abstract

Oral forms of medications contain "inactive" ingredients to enhance their physical properties. Using data analytics, we characterized the abundance and complexity of inactive ingredients in approved medications. A majority of medications contain ingredients that could cause adverse reactions, underscoring the need to maximize the tolerability and safety of medications and their inactive ingredients.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Review

MeSH terms

Administration, Oral
Animals
Drug Compounding
Excipients / adverse effects
Humans
Pharmaceutical Preparations / administration & dosage*
Pharmaceutical Preparations / analysis*

Substances

Excipients
Pharmaceutical Preparations

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Substances

Grants and funding