Continuous presentation: Oral liquids designed for administration by "metered" medicine spoon

This Editorial Guide is used for Education Purposes Only. It is used in the Authoring Courses and Certifications. It is based on the January 2026 Editorial Guide.

Examples: oral solutions, suspensions, emulsions, syrups

This is a variation on the metered dose presentation; the unit of presentation supplied by the manufacturer to provide the “metered dose” is the 5mL spoonful, since this represents “the quantity of product that is administered by filling a single spoon administration device” [EDQM]. Strength is expressed as “per one unit of presentation” (per 5 mL [spoonful]) BUT the presentation strength and the concentration are NOT the same, since these are continuous liquids, so the concentration strength of “per 1 mL” will usually be a different value. Note that explicit representation of the medicine spoon would be as an administration device, and is therefore out of scope of the international Medicinal Product hierarchy. National extensions may wish to represent the inclusion of a medicine spoon (or indeed any other administration device such as an applicator) in the package description (as in IDMP, for example) should the use case(s) require.

Example: A bottle of 125 mL of aciclovir oral suspension 200mg/5mL

Manufactured dose form	Oral suspension
Unit of presentation	5 mL [spoonful]
[Pack size]	125 mL in the bottle	Not usually expressed as 25 spoonfuls!
Precise active ingredient	aciclovir
Basis of strength substance	aciclovir
Presentation strength (logical)	200 mg per 1 unit of presentation
Presentation strength	200 mg per 5 mL
Concentration strength	40 mg per 1 mL

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