Formulation And Evaluation Of Etodolac Nanosponges By Using β-Cyclodextrin As A Polymer For Topical Drug Delivery

Etodolac is an NSAID (Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug) used in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, and other inflammatory conditions. ETO belongs to the Class II of the Biopharmaceutical Classification System (BCS), that is; it shows poor bioavailability and low water solubility in this study, an attempt was made to develop ETO-loaded Cyclodextrin nano sponges to enhance its topical bioavailability by improving solubility and permeability. Nano sponges are tiny mesh-like structures, capable of carrying both lipophilic and hydrophilic substances and of improving the solubility of poorly water-soluble molecules. β Cyclodextrin based Nano sponges were prepared and loaded with ETO using Diphenyl carbonate (DC) as a crosslinker. Five NS formulations loaded with same amount of ETO, but varying cross linker concentrations with β Cyclodextrin were prepared using melting method. The entrapment efficiency of the favorable Cyclodextrin NS was found to be 65.03 % and in vitro release studies shows 83 % cumulative drug release at the end of 8 hours. The drug-excipient compatibility study of physical mixture and formulation F2 was carried out by FTIR spectroscopy. SEM analysis revealed the size of particles to be around 505 nm. Finally, ETO Nano sponge tablets were formulated for topical therapy and evaluated. These results suggest that the currently formulated Cyclodextrin nanosponge formulation appears to be a preferable drug delivery alternative for augmenting the topical bioavailability of etodolac in topical rheumatoid arthritis therapy.