Abstract

DEVELOPMENT AND CHARACTERIZATION OF FAST DISSOLVING TABLETS OF CEPHALEXIN

Jithin K. Mathew* and Revathy P. Vijayan

Abstract

Background: Cephalexin is a semi synthetic first generation cephalosporin having activity against gram positive and gram negative bacteria. It is primarily used in paediatrics for the treatment of infections of the respiratory tract (e.g. pharyngitis, tonsillitis), skin infections, bone and joint infections, and urinary tract infections. As it is a bitter drug, many works areundertaken to prepare taste-masked fast dissolving tablets of cephalexin by incorporation of artificial sweetener sucralose and pineapple flavor for use in paediatrics. Objective: To formulate fast dissolving tablets (FDTs) of cephalexin by wet granulation method. Materials and Methods: In this study FDTs were formulated by using superdisintegrant like crospovidone, croscarmellose in different concentrations i.e. 1%, 2.5% and 5%. The formulations were evaluated for weight variation, hardness, friability, wetting time and drug content uniformity. All the formulations showed satisfactory mechanical strength with disintegration time less than 30 seconds. Results: The invitro percentage drug release from the formulation F6 containing crospovidone at concentration of 5% was found to be 96% in 10 minutes. The in vitro release data were fitted to different equations and kinetic models to explain release profiles. The correlation coefficient value (r) indicates the kinetic of drug release was first order and the mechanism of drug release was found to follow Fickian transport. Conclusion: The results revealed that tablet containing 5% crospovidone (F6) as superdisintegrant had good dissolution profile with shorter disintegration time.

Keywords: Cephalexin, taste-masking, fast dissolving tablets, superdisintegrants.