FORMULATION AND EVALUATION OF INDOMETHACIN EXTENDED RELEASE PELLETS

Objective: The present investigation was to design pellets loaded with Indomethacin for extended release. Indomethacin is a non steroidal anti inflammatory drug (NSAID) commonly used for reduction of pain and inflammation. To improve the bioavailability indomethacin was prepared by fluidised bed coating tablet technology. Methods: Indomethacin pellets were prepared using hydroxy propyl methyl cellulose and ethyl cellulose as a polymer in different concentration. Pellets were evaluated for physico - chemical properties such as hardness, friability, thickness, weight variation, drug content uniformity and capsule lock length. In vitro drug release studies were carried out USP rotating basket type I method and the samples were analyzed at 319nm by UV spectrophotometer. Results: FT-IR studies revealed that there was no interaction betweeen drug and polymers used in the study. The drug release from F5 formulation was found to zero order kinetic model. It was also found linear in higuchi plot which confirms that diffusion is one of the mechanism of drug release. Conclusion: Among these formulations, Formulation (F5) containing Ethyl cellulose (4cps) 5mg & HPC 20 mg and extended release coating upto 7% showed optimized release pattern.The optimized formulation (F5) releases the drug upto 24hrs and fulfilled the requirements such as cost effective and high patient compliance