Vol. 2, Issue 2 (2013)

Author(s):
P. Narayana. Raju, M. Sravan Kumar, Ch. Madhusudhan. Reddy, K. Ravishankar

Abstract:
Fast dissolving films have been played an important role in the current pharmaceutical research. They have convenience and ease of use over other dosage forms such as orally disintegrating tablets and immediate release tablets. In the present research, rapidly dissolving films of loratidine were developed using low viscosity grades of HPMC as film forming polymers. HPMC is a water soluble synthetic polymer which was used as film former form many years. The films of loratidine were prepared by solvent casting method using di-chloromethane and methanol as solvents. The prepared films were evaluated for drug content, weight variation, thickness and in vitro in vivo disintegration time. Loratidine is moderately bitter drug, taste masking was achieved by use of sweeteners, flavours and citric acid. Type of flavor significantly affected the taste masking propderty. The in vitro and in vivodisintegration time of the optimized formulation was found to be below 29 seconds and 24 seconds respectively. The prepared films exhibited good integrity and thickness. In vitro dissolution studies were performed as per the FDA dissolution guidelines for about 10 minutes, the optimum formulation released complete drug with in 4-6 minutes. DSC and FTIR studies showed no drug polymer interaction.