Abstract

ADVANCES IN GASTRORETENTIVE DRUG DELIVERY SYSTEM: A REVIEW

Prasad Ghugarkar*

ABSTRACT

Oral route of drug delivery has been the most conventional and accepted route of drug delivery, among these controlled release (CR) dosage forms have been extensively used to improve therapy. Controlled release drug delivery systems that retain in the stomach for a long time have many advantages over sustained release formulations. Gastroretentive dosage forms (GRDF) has received significant interest in the past few decades as they can improve the limitation of most conventional and oral controlled release drug delivery system related to fast gastric-emptying time. An optimum GRDF system can be defined as a system which retains in the stomach for a sufficient time interval against all the physiological barriers, releases active moiety in a controlled manner. Gastric retention may increase solubility for the drugs which are poorly soluble in intestine due to alkaline pH before they are emptied, resulting in improved bioavailability. Gastroretentive drug delivery system has applications for local drug delivery to the stomach and also for proximal small intestine. Gastro retention helps to provide better availability of new products with new therapeutic possibilities. This article gives an overview of the different approaches of GRDF as well as on the evaluation of GRDF.

Keywords: Gastroretentive Dosage Forms, Gastrointestinal Tract, Bioadhesive Systems, Unfolding Systems, Density Controlled Systems.