Smitha Shetty

The objective of this study was to prepare the self-emulsifying drug delivery system of methotrexate for oral use. Preparation composed of soybean oil as oil phase, Span 80 as surfactants, isopropyl alcohol as co-surfactant, 0.1 N NaOH as the aqueous phase. Methotrexate is given orally in treatment of cancer and rheumatoid arthritis. The Anti-neoplastic drug MTX is having less aqueous solubility (50-60 %) and bioavailability of 60-70 %. Hence the present study is aimed to formulate and evaluate solid self-nano emulsifying drug delivery system with the aim of increasing the solubility and bioavailability which will decrease the dosing frequency in turn increase patient compliance. Liquid SNEDDS was prepared by adding drug to oil, surfactant and co-surfactant and heated up to at 60 ºC under continuous stirring until a clear solution is formed. All the formulations were optimized to get the best solubility results for MTX. Solid SNEDDS was prepared by mixing liquid SNEDDS with MCC in 1:1 proportion. The formulations were evaluated for angle of repose, bulk density, zeta potential, IR spectroscopy, in vitro dissolution, average particle size, size distribution and stability studies. The average particle size of the liquid SNEDDS was 60.4 nm and solid SNEDDS was 60.4nm. The surface charge was confirmed by the measurement of the zeta potential for the liquid SNEDDS and it was found to be -22.4 mV and that of the solid SNEDDS was -22.4 mV. The PDI value remained approximately around 0.565 indicated that all the nano particles were uniformly dispersed in the emulsion.

The present study was aimed at the formulation of transdermal patches of flupirtine maleate containing different permeation enhancers. It acts indirectly as N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist and activates the K+ channels; thereby acts as a skeletal muscle relaxant. Flupirtine maleate transdermal patches are intended to provide localized effect. The patches were prepared by solvent evaporation technique, using polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as the polymer whereas dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and polyethylene glycol (PEG-400) as the permeation enhancers. Methanol was used as a solvent to dissolve the drug and glycerol was used as the plasticizer. These patches were evaluated for in vitro permeation, tensile strength, percent moisture absorption, drug content uniformity, film thickness, weight variation and folding endurance. All the patches showed extended release properties. Formulation FDD8 containing 8% polymer and 2% DMSO was found to be the optimized formulation on the basis of evaluation parameters. In vitro permeation release was found to be 95.71 ± 0.01% at the end of 12 h. As the concentration of DMSO increased, the release profile of drug was enhanced. This indicated that DMSO improved the release profile of flupirtine maleate when compared to PEG-400. The release kinetics of the transdermal patches followed Higuchi matrix model. The stability studies showed that all the optimized patches were stable during their study period. From the present study, it can be concluded that addition of DMSO yields good result to enhance the permeation of the drug.

The present work is aimed at Design and development of medicated lollipop containing Albendazole. One of the major health problems faced by hundreds of millions of school-age children is infection by helminths, more commonly known as worms. Albendazole is used as abroad-spectrum anthelmintic. The conventional dosage forms like tablets, capsules, syrups etc are inconvenient for paediatric, geriatric, bedridden patients because of difficult to swallow tablets and capsules or unpleasant taste of drug. As a result, the demand for developing new technologies has been increasing day by day. Lollipops are defined as the flavoured medicated dosage forms intended to be sucked and held in the mouth or pharynx containing one or more medicaments usually in the sweetened base.  Medicated lollipop is designed to improve patient compliance and increase oral retention time. The lollipops were prepared by heating and congealing method using hydroxypropylmethylcelluloseK4M as polymer. Drug-excipient compatibility study was carried out using FTIR. All the formulations were subjected to various physicochemical evaluations like weight variation, hardness, drug content, friability etc. The in-vitro dissolution study of F3 was carried out by two method a) Paddle method b) flow through cell method .The in-vitro permeation  study of F3 was found to be 72.2% at 30 min. Stability study was carried out as per ICH-Guidelines (Q1A) at 25±2oC/60±5% RH and 40±2oC/75±5% RH . From the present study it can be concluded that addition of hydrophilic polymers yield good result to prolong oral retention time of lollipop.