Liqui-Mass Technology as a Novel Tool to Produce Sustained Release Liqui-Tablet Made from Liqui-Pellets

The Liqui-Mass technology (also known as Liqui-Pellet technology) has shown promising results in terms of enhancing the drug release rate of water insoluble drugs in a simplistic approach. However, there is no current study on sustained-release formulation using the Liqui-Mass technology. In this study, an attempt was made to produce a sustained-release Liqui-Tablet for the first time using a matrix-based approach. The non-volatile co-solvent used in the investigation included Tween 80, Tween 20 and Kolliphor EL. The production of sustained-release propranolol hydrochloride Liqui-Tablet was successful, and data from the saturation solubility test and dissolution test did not show much difference among the mentioned non-volatile co-solvent. The best Liqui-Tablet formulation took 24 h for drug release to reach at around 100%. There seemed to be a synergistic retarding drug release effect when a non-volatile co-solvent and Eudragit RS PO were used together. The increase of Eudragit RS PO concentration increased the retardant effect. Kinetic drug release analysis suggests that the best formulation followed the Higuchi model. The flowability of pre-compressed Liqui-Tablet pellets had no issues and its size distribution was narrow. Liqui-Tablet was generally robust and most formulations passed the friability test. The study revealed that Liqui-Mass technology can be employed to sustain drug release.

Formulation and Optimization of Eudragit RS PO-Tenofovir Nanocarriers Using Box-Behnken Experimental Design

The objective of present study was to develop an optimized polymeric nanoparticle system for the antiretroviral drug tenofovir. A modified nanoprecipitation method was used to prepare Eudragit RS PO nanoparticles of the drug. The effect of amount of polymer, surfactant concentration, and sonication time on particle size, particle distribution, encapsulation efficiency (EE), and zeta potential were assessed and optimized utilizing a three-factor, three-level Box-Behnken Design (BBD) of experiment. Fifteen formulations of nanoparticles were prepared as per BBD and evaluated for particle size, polydispersity index (PDI), EE, and zeta potential. The results showed that the measured mean particle sizes were in the range of 233 to 499 nm, PDI ranged from 0.094 to 0.153, average zeta potential ranged from −19.9 to −45.8 mV, and EE ranged between 98 and 99%. The optimized formulation was characterized forin vitrodrug release and structural characterization. The mean particle size of this formulation was 233 nm with a PDI of 0.0107. It had a high EE of 98% and average zeta potential of −35 mV, an indication of particle stability. The FTIR showed some noncovalent interactions between the drug and polymer but a sustained release was observedin vitrofor up to 80 hours.