Design and Fabrication of Flurbiprofen Nanosponges for the Treatment of Rheumatoid Arthritis

Introduction: Nanosponges are tiny sponges that can circulate in the body to reach the specific site and binds on the surface to release the drug in a controlled and predictable manner. Nanosponges exhibit a porous structure in nature which has the unique ability to entrap the drug moieties and offers a merit of desire release. Flurbiprofen, a BCS class II medication with low solubility (8 mg/L) and high permeability (Log P = 3.80), is seen to be a good option for nanosponge formulation in order to address issues including short half-life, limited bioavailability, and stomach side effects.  Objectives: To Control/ modify release of drug at specific site and hence dose and dose frequency can be decreased thereby obtaining greater therapeutic efficacy. To Show better in-vitro release/ diffusion performance than conventional dosage forms.  Methods: Flurbiprofen loaded Nanosponges were prepared using the Quasi Emulsion solvent diffusion method, and the main effect, interaction effects, and quadratic effects were evaluated using 32 FFD (Quality by Design) using Design Expert Software (VR 10.0.1). Drug:Polymer (X1) and Stirring Speed (X2) were chosen as independent variables with low, medium, and high values to maximize the Nanosponges. %Yield (Y1), % Drug Content (%) (Y2) and %CDR (Y3) were the dependent variables.  Results: Optimised Flurbiprofen Nanosponges (C1) were having 93.74±1.20 CDR in 12 hrs which clearly indicates better in vitro release/diffusion than conventional dosage form as well as shows better patient compliance. Also, it indicates controlled release pattern at specific site in reduced dose frequency.