FORMULATION AND EVALUATION OF STOMACH SPECIFIC FLOATING IN-SITU GEL OF CLARITHROMYCIN

Floating drug delivery system comes with the advantage of sustained release of drugs over a prolonged period of time thereby maximizing the oral absorption of drugs with narrow absorption window, it overcomes the challenges of conventional oral drug delivery system. The aim of the present work was to develop a novel floating in-situ gelling system for sustained drug delivery of Clarithromycin for stomach ulcer. The in-situ gelling system were prepared by dissolving different concentrations of gelling polymers like sodium alginate, gellan gum in deionized water at 70 °C. After cooling to 40 °C fixed amount of drug, CaCO₃ and released retardant polymer xanthan gum were dispersed with continuous stirring. All formulations showed pH in the range of 6.72 to 7.25, drug content was found to be in the range of 86.66% to 96.66%, floating lag time was <2 min, duration of floating was >12 h for all the formulations. It was observed that viscosity of solution increases with an increase in polymer concentration. In-vitro drug release was found to be in between 58.88% to 82.50% up to 12 h, and the maximum drug release was shown by formulation F1 (1.0%w/v sodium alginate). Drug release is inversely proportional to polymer concentration. The release kinetics of best formulation F7 (1.0%w/v sodium alginate and 0.25% w/v xanthan gum) followed first order with Higuchi diffusion mechanism. Hence, floating in-situ gelling system of Clarithromycin is a novel approach to increase patient compliance with reduced dosing frequency and increased residence time of drug in the stomach.