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An active ingredient is any ingredient that provides a biologically active or other direct effect in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment or prevention of disease or to affect the structure or function of the human or animal body. Similar terms active pharmaceutical ingredient (also abbreviated as API) and bulk active are also used in medicine, and the term active substance may be used for natural products. Some drug products may contain more than one active ingredient. The traditional term for an active pharmaceutical agent is pharmakon or pharmakon (from Greek: φάρμακον, adapted from pharmakos) originally referring to a magical substance or drug.
The term active ingredient or active principle is often chosen when referring to the active substance of interest in a plant (such as salicylic acid in willow bark or arecoline in areca nut), because in many minds the word “ingredient” connotes human feelings. Organization (ie, something that a person combines with other substances), where the natural products present in plants have not been added by human agency but have occurred naturally (“a plant does not have ingredients”).
In contrast to active ingredients, inactive ingredients are commonly called excipients in pharmaceutical contexts. The main excipient that acts as a medium to carry the active ingredient is generally called the vehicle. Petrolatum and mineral oil are common vehicles. The word ‘passive’ should not be misinterpreted as meaning inert.
A pharmaceutical dosage form consists of the active pharmaceutical ingredient, which is the drug itself, and excipients, which are the ingredients of the tablet, or the liquid in which the active agent is suspended, or other ingredients that are pharmaceutically inert. Medicines are primarily chosen for their active ingredients. During formulation development, excipients are carefully selected to ensure that the active ingredient reaches the target site in the body at the desired rate and level.
Patients often have difficulty identifying the active ingredients in their medications and are often unaware of the concept of an active ingredient. When patients are on multiple medications, the active ingredients can interfere with each other, often causing serious or life-threatening complications. There are now online services that can identify the active ingredients of most medicines, such as the Medicines Database providing information on medicines available in Australia.
