DEVELOPMENT EVALUATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF LOSARTAN POTASSIUM BUCCAL PATCHES USING HYDROPHILIC POLYMERS

Among different routes of drug delivery buccal route is an attractive alternate for drug administration which provides improved patient compliance and increase bioavailability of drugs undergoing extensive hepatic first pass metabolism. The present research work focussed on development, evaluation and characterization of buccal patches of losartan potassium using mucoadhesive hydrophilic polymers such as fenugreek seed mucilage (FSM), tamarind seed polysaccharide (TSP), sodium carboxy methyl cellulose (NaCMC) and propylene glycol as plasticizer. Losartan potassium is an angiotensin II type – 1(AT1) receptor antagonist used in treating hypertension. The plasma t_1/2 of the drug is 1.5 to 2.5 h as it undergoes extensive hepatic first pass metabolism which reduces the bioavailability of the drug up to 33%. The mucoadhesive buccal patches were prepared by solvent casting technique and were evaluated for various physico mechanical parameters like weight variation, thickness, folding endurance, drug content, surface pH, moisture content, moisture absorption, % swelling and mucoadhesion studies. In-vitro drug release study was carried out using commercial semi permeable membrane. Ex-vivo drug permeation study was performed using goat buccal mucosa in Franz diffusion cell. All the buccal patch formulations indicate sustained drug release profile for 12 h, both in-vitro and ex-vivo. The FT-IR study confirms no evidence of interaction between drug and polymers. The stability study of the optimized formulation F-4 ((losartan potassium-6.25 mg/cm², fenugreek seed mucilage-325 mg, tamarind seed polysaccharide-325 mg, propylene glycol-0.2 ml) was found to be stable with good surface morphology characteristics.