IN SITU GEL FORMING INJECTABLE DRUG DELIVERY SYSTEM

Recently, controlled and sustained drug delivery has become the standard in modern pharmaceutical design and an intensive research have been undertaken in achieving much better drug product effectiveness, reliability and safety. This interest has been sparked by the advantages shown by in situ gelforming drug delivery systems such as ease of administration and reduced frequency of administration, improved patient compliance and comfort. The formation of gels depends on factors like temperature modulation, pH change, presence of ions and ultra violet irradiation, from which the drug gets released in a sustained and controlled manner. Various biodegradable polymers that are used for the formulation of in situ gels include gellan gum, alginic acid, xyloglucan, pectin, chitosan, poly(DL lactic acid), poly(DL-lactide-co-glycolide) and poly-caprolactone. Mainly in situ gels are administered by oral, ocular, rectal, vaginal, injectable and intraperitoneal routes. In situ gel forming injectable drug delivery system is the ability to inject a drug incorporated into a polymer to a localized site and have the polymer form a semi-solid gel drug depot has a number of advantages. Among these advantages is ease of application and localized, prolonged drug delivery. Biodegradable injectable in situ gel forming drug delivery systems represent an attractive alternative to microspheres, liposomes and emulsion as parenteral depot systems. For these reasons a large number of in situ gelling polymeric delivery systems have been developed and investigated for use in delivering a wide variety of drugs. The various strategies that have been used to prepare in situ gelling systems and outline their advantages and disadvantages as localized drug delivery systems. From a manufacturing point of view, the production of such devices is less complex and thus lowers the investment and manufacturing cost.