Pravin D. Chaudhari

The objective of this study was to investigate hydrogenated vegetable oil (Lubritab) and hydrogenated castor oil (HCO) as potential lipophilic binders in melt granulation process for the preparation of sustained release matrices of venlafaxine hydrochloride, a highly water soluble drug. The effect of concentration, type of polymer and method of preparation (direct compression of physical mixtures and melt granulation technique) were studied. Granules prepared by melt granulation method were evaluated for micromeritic properties, FT-IR, DSC, XRD and SEM. The compressed tablets were subjected to thickness, hardness, friability, mass variation test, drug content and in vitro release studies. The result of dissolution study showed that formulations containing drug: HCO (1:3 m/m) retarded drug release more than those containing drug: Lubritab (1:3 m/m) ratio. In conclusion, melt granulation technique was found to be more appropriate in retarding the release compared to compression of physical mixtures of drug and lipophilic binder. The study showed that HCO and Lubritab are the appropriate meltable binders that can be utilized as matrix-forming agent to sustained the release of highly water soluble drugs.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a group of chronic, painful, disabling condition affecting synovial joints. OA is the most common among elderly people. Approximately 80% of population above 65 years of age suffers from OA and this value reaches near to 100% with increasing age. Currently available treatments of OA provide symptomatic relief or slow the progression of disease. The oral or parenteral administration of these drugs causes serious systemic side effects leading to even withdrawal of certain drugs from market. To overcome these problems, localized IA drug delivery presents a new hope. A number of drugs have been investigated for their local effect after IA administration. A number of novel drug delivery systems are available for their own merits and demerits. This review discusses the pathophysiology of OA and formulation consideration of IA injections along with details of current and novel drug formulation for OA treatments.