DEVELOPMENT OF A POLYHERBAL CAPSULE FOR THE TREATMENT OF ASTHMA

A drug dosage form is very important in delivering the drug in proper dose in most appropriate form. The capsule shell is an excellent barrier to air, and it also has some other advantages such as being easy to swallow and tasteless, flexibility of formulation etc. The use of the hard gelatin capsule dosage form may perhaps be an alternative to overcome the problem, which the hygroscopicity of the extracts may pose. Present study was envisaged to develop a polyherbal formulation as capsule. The results obtained by the thermo analytical techniques showed no chemical incompatibility between capsule shell and herbal extract. The results were further confirmed by IR spectroscopy. The herbal capsule was stored at different temperatures viz., 25 ⁰C, 40 ⁰C and 50 ⁰C for shelf life evaluation. The percentage alkaloid content for day zero was taken as 100% and accordingly, the percentages were calculated for all the other days. The organoleptic properties of the herbal capsule remain unchanged at tested temperatures throughout the stability study. Likewise, pH values were fairly constant and appear not to be influenced by temperature. The herbal capsule showed maximum pharmaceutical elegance and remained stable throughout the observation period. The shelf life of the herbal capsule was found to be 3.2 years which is much more than sufficient to satisfy the regulatory norms of many countries.