Abstract

A REVIEW ON ADVANCES OF SUSTAINED RELEASE TECHNOLOGY

Seema Mahor*, Hina Chadha, Smriti Ojha and Sarita Prajapati

ABSTRACT

Oral route is one of the most popular routes used for administration of drugs, which is mainly due to the ease of administration and the fact that gastrointestinal physiology offers more flexibility in dosage form design than most other routes. The terms like Sustained release, prolonged release, modified release, extended release or depot formulations are used to identify drug delivery systems that are designed to achieve or extend the therapeutic effect by continuous release of medication over an extended period of time after administration of a single dose. There are several reasons for attractiveness of these dosage forms as they provide increased bioavailability of drug product, reduction in the frequency of administration to prolong duration of effective blood levels, reduces the fluctuation of peak trough concentration and side effects and possibly improves the specific distribution of the drug. Pharmaceutical invention and research are increasingly focusing on delivery systems which enhance desired therapeutic objectives while decreasing the side effects. Oral drug delivery systems represent one of the borderline areas of controlled drug delivery systems. Such a dosage has a major convenience of patient compliance. Sustained release dosage forms are devised to release a drug at a predetermined rate in order to maintain a consistent drug concentration for a distinct period of time with minimal side effects.

Keywords: Targeting, Blood levels, Sustained release, Absorption, Half life, Bioavailability.