Abstract

FORMULATION AND IN-VITRO EVALUATION OF DISSOLVING BUCCAL FILMS OF LOVASTATIN

Manju Rani* and Bhag Chand

Abstract

The purpose of this investigation was to develop “Dissolving mucoadhesive buccal films” of lovastatin by solvent casting technique to deliver lovastatin into blood via buccal mucosa and to bypass its first pass metabolim and also to improve the bioavailability of the drug using muco-adhesive polymers and PEG400 as plasticizer. Mucoadhesive polymer[1] such as Hydroxy Propyl Methyl Cellulose E5 (HPMC), Polyvinyl alcohol(PVA), Polyvinyl pyrollidine(PVP), Carboxy methyl cellulose(CMC), Carbopol 934 and Chitosan were used for the film. Prepared films were carried out for in vitro evaluation tests such as weight variation, film thickness, folding endurance, drug content, mucoadhesive strength[2] force of adhesion, bond strength, disintegration studies and dissolution studies. Attenuated total reflectance (ATR), Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) analysis revealed no Interaction between drug and polymers. Results revealed that buccal film containing HPMC 5% (w/v) and PEG400 40% (w/w of dry polymer weight) shows maximum dissolution and comply all the characteristics of buccal films. Thus, this study suggests that “dissolving mucoadhesive buccal films” can act as a potential for buccal delivery of poorly water soluble hypolipidemic drug lovastatin.

Keywords: Mucoadhesive polymers; Lovastatin; Buccal films.