FORMULATION AND EVALUATION OF SUSTAINED RELEASE TABLETS OF REPAGLINIDE USING HYDROPHILIC NATURAL AND SYNTHETIC POLYMERS

Repaglinide is used in the treatment of type 2 Diabetes mellitus and has very short half life. The patient compliance can decrease when larger doses are administered two to three times a day. Sustained release formulation which maintains a plasma level of 8-10 h might be recommended for daily administration of repaglinide. The main objective of the present study was to develop sustained release formulation using hydrophilic release retardant natural and synthetic polymers i.e., Ocimum basilicum seed mucilage and HPMC K4M alone and in combinations respectively. Direct compression technique was used to prepare tablets which were evaluated for precompression and postcompression parameters. Nine formulations were prepared in which F1-F3 were prepared using Basil seed mucilage, F4-F6 by HPMC K4M and F7-F9 using both the polymers (Basil seed mucilage and HPMC) at 1:3, 1:6 and 1:9 to the drug and polymer ratios respectively. F8 was selected as the best formulation which sustained the drug release upto 98.61% in 10 h out of nine formulations (F1-F9). The selected formulation which was subjected to accelerated stability studies at Rh 75% ± 5% and 40 ºC ± 2 ºC for one month was found to be stable.