Which of the following is NOT a function of pharmaceutical excipients?

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Excipients are inactive ingredients added to a drug product to support its performance and patient use, not to provide therapeutic action. They help in several practical ways: improving stability by stabilizing the active ingredient against degradation; aiding manufacturing by acting as binders, fillers, lubricants, or disintegrants to make production easier and more consistent; and enhancing taste, texture, or swallowing so patients are more likely to take the medicine as prescribed.

The option about increasing potency doesn’t fit because potency reflects the intrinsic pharmacologic activity of the active pharmaceutical ingredient. Excipients do not add to that activity. They can influence how the drug is released or absorbed, which might affect the observed effect, but they do not raise the drug’s innate strength or effectiveness.