ORIGINAL ARTICLE IN VITRO INTERACTION STUDIES OF DILTIAZEM WITH NSAID's USING UV SPECTROPHOTOMETRY AND RP-HPLC TECHNIQUES

Diltiazem (DTZ) is a well-known cardiovascular drug used clinically in the treatment of angina pectoris and hypertension. Present paper deals with the in vitro availability studies of DTZ in presence of commonly used nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID’s) like diclofenac sodium, flurbiprofen, mefenamic acid and meloxicam. Simultaneous administration of both types of drugs may alter the antihypertensive effect of DTZ. These studies were carried out using BP 2005 dissolution test apparatus in simulated human body environments at body temperature and at elevated temperature in order to study the kinetics and energitics of these interactions. Both the drug in each case were analyzed either by measuring the absorbance of aliquots on a UV/VIS spectrophotometer, or by RP-HPLC method. Present study clearly indicated that most of the NSAID’s studied bind to DTZ forming charge transfer complexes, evident from the high availability of DTZ. Hence, concurrent administration of NSAID’s with DTZ is not recommended.