Meloxicam has short biological half-life and is rapidly eliminated, frequent oral administration is necessary to maintain its therapeutic
concentration, but this can increase chances of missing dose. This makes Meloxicam a good applicant for oral sustained release
formulation. The objective of study was to develop in-situ gel formulations of Meloxicam for sustained release to reduce the dosing frequency in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. Method of Ion sensitive in-situ gelation was used in this study. Meloxicam In-situ gel formulations were prepared by varying concentrations of sodium alginate as a bio-degradable gel forming polymer, CaCl2 as a cross-linking agent and Chitosan/ HPMCK4/HPMCK15/Guar gum/Gellan gum/ Xantha gum/pectin were used as drug release rate
controlling polymers. The formulations F11-F18 were assessed for Physical appearance, pH, in-vitro drug release, viscosity, in-vitro
gelling capacity and drug content. FTIR, DSC and in-vivo drug kinetics studies was conducted for Meloxicam, excipients used and
optimized formulation. Formulations showed an optimum viscosity that will allow ease of administration and swallowing. All
formulations are shown pH between4.7-4.9, floating lag time was 2-3sec and floated for >12 hrs. In vitro drug release studies reporting
that commercially available product Meloxicam SR has showed 99.92% drug release in 8 hrs and out of eight formulations F11 showing in-vitro drug release of 99.52% over a 12hrs extended period. FTIR studies revealed no interaction between drug and excipients used. The results of In-vivo kinetic studies are approving the better performance of the optimized formulation in comparison to marketed formulation, The Cmax, Tmax, half-life AUC values are confirming the same thing. In conclusion, Formulation (F11) was selected as optimized formulations could be offered as shows optimum sustained drug release compared to commercial formulation. Hence Meloxicam containing Chitosan as drug release controll