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Question

Posted on: March 6 2013

Which preservative for water suppositories?

I had to make following emulsion suppositories: 0.3 g Hamamelis water per suppository of 3.0 G. I chose Novata E, because this base has a high hydroxyl number and has a good water absorbing conglets. I also added span 80 to get the water phase in the fat phase. I now wonder if I should not have added a preservative, because there is a lot of water phase in the suppositories. Does preservative I could add?

Answer

Adding Water to Suppositories is not ideal for storage. A preservative should not be really added since the formed emulsion is W/O. Of course we can add a preservative and then sorbic acid 0.1% is a good choice.