SUSTAINED RELEASE MATRIX TABLET OF DILTIAZEM HYDROCHLORIDE IT'S FORMULATION AND EVALUATION

Controlled release and sustained release drug delivery has become the standards in the modern pharmaceutical design and intensive research for achieving better drug product effectiveness, reliability and safety. Oral sustained release drug delivery (OSRDD) medication will continue to account for the largest share (up to 80%) of drug delivery systems. The matrix tablet preparation appears to be most attractive approach for the process development and scale-up point of view. Sustained release systems include any drug delivery system that "achieves slow release of drug over an extended period of time". If sustain release system is successful in maintaining constant drug levels in the target tissue or cells, it is considered a controlled release system. A calcium channel blocker, Diltiazem hydrochloride has found its applicability in cardiovascular diseases advised to take the long term treatment of cardiovascular medicaments like anti-anginals, anti-hypertensives, etc. The calcium channel blockers are utilized as the potential agents for the treatment of these diseases. They are considered as a slow calcium channel blockers. The direct compression method was adopted for the preparation of sustained release matrix tablets with the 10mm punches and targeted weight of 350mg. Hypromellose is primarily used as a tablet binder, in film-coating, and as a matrix for use in extended-release tablet formulations. The results revealed that formulations with the drug polymer ratio 1.0:0.5 (F1, F4 and F7) showed higher drug release rates in the range of 94.74 to 90.72% when compared 1.0:1.0 ratio (F2, F5 and F8) which showed a drug release rates from 93.69 to 88.92% and those of 1.0:1.5 ratio (F3, F6 and F9) which have displayed drug release rates in the range of 92.64 to 86.62 %over a period of 12 hours. This indicates that as the polymer concentration increased, the drug release rate was found to be retarded.