What is Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient?

Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient.

Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient can be abbreviated as API.
Any medicine that we use (tablet, capsule, syrup, injectables, cream, or lotion) are a combination of the API and excipients.

The API is a chemical or a drug substance that is responsible for the pharmacological and therapeutic activities in the body. It is the main ingredient that treats a disease or disorder.
But API can not be used in its raw form. API in its raw or crude form may not show proper suitability towards pharmacodynamic (what drug does to the body) and pharmacokinetics (what body does to the drug) activity. Therefore it is combined with suitable excipients that do not have any pharmacological or therapeutic activities but enhance the stability and activities of the API.
Example - Crocin (A product of GSK) contains 500mg of paracetamol in each tablet. This means along with the API paracetamol there are some other ingredients present as well.

An active pharma ingredient is an ingredient (API) that is responsible for causing the physiological changes determined to be a treatment to the diagnosis being treated.

Categories of APIs

Natural APIs

The drug substance derived directly or extracted from the natural sources.

Synthetic APIs

The drug substances are obtained directly by the chemical conversion of intermediates.

Semi-synthetic APIs

The drug substance derived from a natural source is then converted synthetically into a drug substance.