FORMULATION OF ESOMEPRAZOLE SUSTAINED RELEASE TABLETS USING NATURAL POLYMERS

Sustained release dosage forms are designed to achieve a prolonged therapeutic effect by continuously releasing medication over an extended period of time after administration of single dose. The main aim of preparing sustained release formulations was intended to modify and improve the drug performance by increasing the duration of drug action, decreasing the frequency of dosing, decreasing the required dose employed and providing uniform drug delivery. In vitro drug release profiles for all formulations were carried out by using 6.8pHphosphate buffer as dissolution medium for about 24 hrs. From the above results it was found that the release of drug from formulation F8 which was composed of Guargum at 60 mg gave the better release, drug content, friability, hardness than other formulations. The drug release from all the formulations were followed Higuchi model. The Correlation Coefficients (R2) for the Higuchi model of drug release for the formulations are in the range of 0.921 to 0.995. The Higuchi plot between amounts of drug released as a function of the square root of time. The amount of drug released from the formulation F6, F7 and F8 increased linearly with the square root of time indicating that the diffusion of drug from the tablets, which is affected by the porosity and tortuosity of the matrix may be the rate-limiting step in the release of Esomeprazole from SR tablets.