Sodium Chloride (NaCl) Equivalent Values (E-value)

 It is often necessary to ensure that dosage forms for the delivery by the parenteral, nasal, ophthalmic or oral inhalation routes are iso-osmotic or iso-tonic with body fluids such as blood and tears.

 Hypertonic or hypotonic solutions may be irritating to eyes, blood vessels and mucous membranes. This irritation results in uncomfortable patients who will be less compliant or can even cause damage to an eye, blood vessels or mucous membrane. Body fluids are often described as having an osmotic pressure equivalent to 0.9% sodium chloride. Therefore, in order to determine the estimate of a sufficient amount of sodium chloride that is needed to adjust the tonicity so the end preparation is isotonic/iso-osmotic requires the sodium chloride equivalent of the drug.

 Here we have a list of drugs and their sodium chloride equivalent (E-value) that can be used for the required calculations.