[excipients] an inert vehicle it is

Post by Ken Blake
Was reading up on Syria when I ran across the word "excipients" for the
first time (that I can recall). [...]

OED2 lists it as obsolete. It is not, it is routinely used in drug labelling
and in drug formularies. When I learned it (which would have been 2008ish) I
emailed the OED and documented that it wasn’t obsolete, I wonder if they have
updated the entry. (I don’t have access to the current site.)

--
‘As I sat looking up at the Guinness ad, I could never figure out /
How your man stayed up on the surfboard after fourteen pints of stout’
(C. Moore)

HVS

2024-12-19 14:13:17 UTC

Post by Ken Blake
Was reading up on Syria when I ran across the word "excipients"
for the first time (that I can recall). [...]

OED2 lists it as obsolete. It is not, it is routinely used in drug
labelling and in drug formularies. When I learned it (which would
have been 2008ish) I emailed the OED and documented that it
wasnât obsolete, I wonder if they have updated the entry. (I
donât have access to the current site.)

They still flag it as "obsolete". There's a slight change in the
quotations for the use as noun, but only to change the date of one ofo
the three relevant quotes formm 1831 to 1829, but the latest quotation
is still 1890.

In the "Factsheet" tab, the "Entry status" notes:

"OED is undergoing a continuous programme of revision to modernize and
improve definitions. This entry has not yet been fully revised."

--
Cheers, Harvey

Athel Cornish-Bowden

2024-12-19 14:56:28 UTC

Post by Ken Blake
Was reading up on Syria when I ran across the word "excipients"
for the first time (that I can recall). [...]

OED2 lists it as obsolete. It is not, it is routinely used in drug
labelling and in drug formularies. When I learned it (which would
have been 2008ish) I emailed the OED and documented that it
wasn’t obsolete, I wonder if they have updated the entry. (I
don’t have access to the current site.)

They still flag it as "obsolete".

The compilers of OED2 need to get out more. Almost every medicine I
take (which is many, now that I'm not as young as I once was and have
problems of heart rhythm) mentions excipients on the box.

Post by HVS
There's a slight change in the
quotations for the use as noun, but only to change the date of one ofo
the three relevant quotes formm 1831 to 1829, but the latest quotation
is still 1890.
"OED is undergoing a continuous programme of revision to modernize and
improve definitions. This entry has not yet been fully revised."

--
Athel -- French and British, living in Marseilles for 37 years; mainly
in England until 1987.

Paul Wolff

2024-12-20 17:10:09 UTC

Post by Ken Blake
Was reading up on Syria when I ran across the word "excipients"
for the first time (that I can recall). [...]

OED2 lists it as obsolete. It is not, it is routinely used in drug
labelling and in drug formularies. When I learned it (which would
have been 2008ish) I emailed the OED and documented that it
wasn’t obsolete, I wonder if they have updated the entry. (I
don’t have access to the current site.)

They still flag it as "obsolete".

The compilers of OED2 need to get out more. Almost every medicine I
take (which is many, now that I'm not as young as I once was and have
problems of heart rhythm) mentions excipients on the box.

You'll find excipients mentioned routinely in every pharmaceutical
patent specification. Well, in those that I wrote, anyway, especially
those with claims to the active ingredient in unit dosage form.

--
Paul W

J. J. Lodder

2024-12-21 10:01:16 UTC

Post by Ken Blake
Was reading up on Syria when I ran across the word "excipients"
for the first time (that I can recall). [...]

OED2 lists it as obsolete. It is not, it is routinely used in drug
labelling and in drug formularies. When I learned it (which would
have been 2008ish) I emailed the OED and documented that it
wasn't obsolete, I wonder if they have updated the entry. (I
don't have access to the current site.)

They still flag it as "obsolete".

The compilers of OED2 need to get out more. Almost every medicine I
take (which is many, now that I'm not as young as I once was and have
problems of heart rhythm) mentions excipients on the box.

Of course, you wouldn't want someone else to patent
essentially the same thing by merely using some other excipient.
'Excipient' is usually mentioned on the package and in the leaflet
that comes with the medicine.

I really don't see why Oxford would consider it obsolete.
(wikipedia obviously does not)
AFAIK there is no good other single word for it,

Jan

Athel Cornish-Bowden

2024-12-21 10:43:04 UTC

Post by Ken Blake
Was reading up on Syria when I ran across the word "excipients"
for the first time (that I can recall). [...]

OED2 lists it as obsolete. It is not, it is routinely used in drug
labelling and in drug formularies. When I learned it (which would
have been 2008ish) I emailed the OED and documented that it
wasn't obsolete, I wonder if they have updated the entry. (I
don't have access to the current site.)

They still flag it as "obsolete".

The compilers of OED2 need to get out more. Almost every medicine I
take (which is many, now that I'm not as young as I once was and have
problems of heart rhythm) mentions excipients on the box.

Yes, leaflet rather than box: all of the text they want you to read
wouldn't fit on the box. This morning I opened a box of Jardiance
(Empagliflozin), which is mainly a treatment for type II diabetes,
though I don't have any type of diabetes. Anyway, I skimmed through the
enclosed leaflet to see if there was some mention of excipients, but I
didn't find one. The text, almost of book length, occupied both sides
of a large sheet of paper. When I saw it I wondered if it had 15
languages, like many modern industrial products, but no, it was all in
French, so English, Germans, Dutch, Albanians, Estonians etc. will have
to take it without knowing its properties.

Post by J. J. Lodder
I really don't see why Oxford would consider it obsolete.
(wikipedia obviously does not)
AFAIK there is no good other single word for it,
Jan

--
Athel -- French and British, living in Marseilles for 37 years; mainly
in England until 1987.

Silvano

2024-12-21 11:20:24 UTC

Post by Athel Cornish-Bowden
Yes, leaflet rather than box: all of the text they want you to read
wouldn't fit on the box. This morning I opened a box of Jardiance
(Empagliflozin), which is mainly a treatment for type II diabetes,
though I don't have any type of diabetes. Anyway, I skimmed through the
enclosed leaflet to see if there was some mention of excipients, but I
didn't find one. The text, almost of book length, occupied both sides of
a large sheet of paper. When I saw it I wondered if it had 15 languages,
like many modern industrial products, but no, it was all in French, so
English, Germans, Dutch, Albanians, Estonians etc. will have to take it
without knowing its properties.

You could be right about Albanians, but IIRC every product sold in the
EU and needing instructions must have them in the language(s) of the
country where it's sold.
If that medicine is sold elsewhere in the EU, I'd get the instructions
in German and Bertel in Danish. Not sure if Aidan would get them in
English only or in English and Irish.

Aidan Kehoe

2024-12-21 19:14:50 UTC

Post by Silvano

It’s an excellent treatment for a decline in the ability of the heart to pump
blood as well as it should, called, quite dramatically, “heart failure.”

Post by Silvano

Post by Athel Cornish-Bowden
Anyway, I skimmed through the
enclosed leaflet to see if there was some mention of excipients, but I
didn't find one. The text, almost of book length, occupied both sides of
a large sheet of paper. When I saw it I wondered if it had 15 languages,
like many modern industrial products, but no, it was all in French, so
English, Germans, Dutch, Albanians, Estonians etc. will have to take it
without knowing its properties.

There are occasional derogations from this; my minoxidil¹ came from Italy for
about 9 months without translation of the insert, but with stickers commenting
that this was an exceptional import, not licensed in the local market. (But
licensed within the EU, which is the big stumbling block.) And if I’m
prescribing something I care far more about whether the EU has approved it than
whether the local Irish authority has approved it.

Empagliflozin still has patent protection, so the profit margins likely remain
high enough that per-country packaging within the EU (and especially for as big
a market as France) is economic.

I’ve never seen pharmaceutical packing in Irish. There is a significant
legislative deviation from the legal standing of Irish as the first official
language of the country, in that medical records must be kept in English. I’d
be surprised if this deviation extends to pharmaceutical packaging, but I
suspect the case law has never come up and the pharmaceutical companies do the
cheaper thing.

If pharmaceutical packaging is not multilingual here, it tends to be aimed at
Malta and ourselves. I am a little surprised there is not more cross-over with
the UK, though there is some.

¹ An antihypertensive that has the side effect of promoting hair growth, I
developed vanity after failing several in-person professional exams while bald,
in my assessment chiefly because I was bald and the lady examiners had to fail
someone; passed wearing a wig.

--
‘As I sat looking up at the Guinness ad, I could never figure out /
How your man stayed up on the surfboard after fourteen pints of stout’
(C. Moore)

lar3ryca

2024-12-21 17:35:14 UTC

Post by Ken Blake
Was reading up on Syria when I ran across the word "excipients"
for the first time (that I can recall). [...]

OED2 lists it as obsolete. It is not, it is routinely used in drug
labelling and in drug formularies. When I learned it (which would
have been 2008ish) I emailed the OED and documented that it
wasn't obsolete, I wonder if they have updated the entry. (I
don't have access to the current site.)

They still flag it as "obsolete".

The compilers of OED2 need to get out more. Almost every medicine I
take (which is many, now that I'm not as young as I once was and have
problems of heart rhythm) mentions excipients on the box.

I take Jardiance. Might I ask if the packaging contains 'strips' of 5
pills each, and are like a metallic bubble pack? Just curious to know if
the same annoying packaging is in use in different countries.

Indeed. I have yet to read all of it.

Post by Athel Cornish-Bowden
When I saw it I wondered if it had 15 languages,
like many modern industrial products, but no, it was all in French, so
English, Germans, Dutch, Albanians, Estonians etc. will have to take it
without knowing its properties.

Well, mine is in English, so I would imagine that every country's supply
is in their (or one of their) languages. Would Belgium, for example,
have it in two languages?

Post by J. J. Lodder
I really don't see why Oxford would consider it obsolete.
(wikipedia obviously does not)
AFAIK there is no good other single word for it,

--
A friend couldn't pay his water bill,
so I sent him a 'get well soon' card.

Athel Cornish-Bowden

2024-12-21 17:40:06 UTC

Post by lar3ryca

Post by Ken Blake
Was reading up on Syria when I ran across the word "excipients"
for the first time (that I can recall). [...]

OED2 lists it as obsolete. It is not, it is routinely used in drug
labelling and in drug formularies. When I learned it (which would
have been 2008ish) I emailed the OED and documented that it
wasn't obsolete, I wonder if they have updated the entry. (I
don't have access to the current site.)

They still flag it as "obsolete".

The compilers of OED2 need to get out more. Almost every medicine I
take (which is many, now that I'm not as young as I once was and have
problems of heart rhythm) mentions excipients on the box.

I take Jardiance. Might I ask if the packaging contains 'strips' of 5
pills each, and are like a metallic bubble pack? Just curious to know
if the same annoying packaging is in use in different countries.

It comes with 30 pills in a box with three metallic bubble panels of ten.

Post by lar3ryca

Indeed. I have yet to read all of it.

Post by Athel Cornish-Bowden
When I saw it I wondered if it had 15 languages, like many modern
industrial products, but no, it was all in French, so English, Germans,
Dutch, Albanians, Estonians etc. will have to take it without knowing
its properties.

Well, mine is in English, so I would imagine that every country's
supply is in their (or one of their) languages. Would Belgium, for
example, have it in two languages?

Post by J. J. Lodder
I really don't see why Oxford would consider it obsolete.
(wikipedia obviously does not)
AFAIK there is no good other single word for it,

--
Athel -- French and British, living in Marseilles for 37 years; mainly
in England until 1987.

lar3ryca

2024-12-21 19:20:23 UTC

Post by lar3ryca

Post by Ken Blake
Was reading up on Syria when I ran across the word "excipients"
for the first time (that I can recall). [...]

OED2 lists it as obsolete. It is not, it is routinely used in drug
labelling and in drug formularies. When I learned it (which would
have been 2008ish) I emailed the OED and documented that it
wasn't obsolete, I wonder if they have updated the entry. (I
don't have access to the current site.)

They still flag it as "obsolete".

The compilers of OED2 need to get out more. Almost every medicine I
take (which is many, now that I'm not as young as I once was and have
problems of heart rhythm) mentions excipients on the box.

I take Jardiance. Might I ask if the packaging contains 'strips' of 5
pills each, and are like a metallic bubble pack? Just curious to know
if the same annoying packaging is in use in different countries.

It comes with 30 pills in a box with three metallic bubble panels of ten.

Thanks. Seems the only difference is that mine has, in addition to what
yours has, 4 more pills in a similar bubble panel. All my pills are
dispensed in quantities of 34, good for 3 months.

--
Always remember to pillage before you burn.

Sam Plusnet

2024-12-21 20:11:58 UTC

This morning I opened a box of Jardiance (Empagliflozin)

Am I the only one who immediately thought of Jarndyce v Jarndyce?

--
Sam Plusnet

Chris Elvidge

2024-12-21 21:52:58 UTC