Gastroprotective Drug Delivery Systems and Their Role in Advancing Cardiovascular Therapeutics

Cardiovascular drugs face significant therapeutic limitations due to narrow absorption windows, short half-lives, and extensive first-pass metabolism, resulting in poor bioavailability and frequent dosing requirements. Gastroprotective drug delivery systems (GRDDS) offer a compelling solution by prolonging gastric residence time to optimize drug absorption in the upper gastrointestinal tract. This review gives overview of distinct gastroprotective mechanisms floating, mucoadhesive, swelling, high-density, raft-forming, magnetic, super porous hydrogel, and dual-mechanism systems and their successful application to cardiovascular therapeutics. Key cardiovascular drugs including propranolol, atenolol, diltiazem, losartan, metoprolol, captopril, verapamil, and clopidogrel have demonstrated enhanced bioavailability, sustained release profiles, and improved patient compliance when formulated as GRDDS. The review highlights formulation strategies and also describes key evaluation parameters for GRDDS including buoyancy lag time, total floating duration, swelling index, density measurements, mechanical strength, in vitro drug release studies, and in vivo gastric retention studies. While physiological variations in gastric emptying remain challenging, emerging dual-mechanism systems and smart polymer technologies promise more reliable gastric retention. GRDDS represents a transformative approach for cardiovascular drug delivery, addressing fundamental pharmacokinetic limitations while advancing toward personalized therapeutic solutions.