Development and In-vitro, In-vivo Evaluation of Gastro Retentive Floating Tablets of Felodipine

Direct compression was utilized to develop the floating tablets, because of moisture sensitivity of Felodipine(FD), formulation included polymers such as CARBOPOL 934 & HPMC K 15 M. FD Floating tablets were designed to enhance drug availability by prolonging gastric retention time (GRT). Physical properties of tablets, such as hardness, thickness, friability, and weight variation as well as drug content and floating behaviors, were evaluated. Further, tablets were studied for In vitro drug release tests for 12 hours, while floating in the dissolution medium, In- vivo imaging studies were conducted. According to FTIR studies, there is no interaction between the drug and polymer, In-vitro buoyancy of tablets was 12 hours, the in-vitro dissolution release studies exhibited sustained and prolonged drug release profiles. The release mechanism from these tablets has been confirmed to be non-Fickian diffusion, which also fits the zero order and higuchi models, GRT of floating tablets was observed to be 4 hours. Based on in –vitro characteristics, F14 is the most efficient formulation. It was exploited in- vivo imaging studies by incorporating BaSo4, and the floating concept was used to boost gastric retention time, which was initially assumed.