Effect of Combination of Superdisintegrants on the Dissolution Rate: Meclizine Hydrochloride Fast Dissolving Tablets

Abstract

The aim of the present research is to develop the fast dissolving tablets and to study the effect of combination of superdisintegrants on the dissolution rate by using meclizine hydrochloride as a model drug. Development of oral fast dissolving tablets is mainly to achieve the following objectives; they are to give fast onset of action and to overcome difficulty in swallowing tablets and capsules that resulting in non-compliance. The prepared tablets were characterized for hardness, weight variation, friability, wetting time, water absorption ratio, and disintegration time. In vitro drug release studies were performed by using USP XXIV Type II dissolution apparatus in 0.1 N HCl. From in vitro dissolution studies, the formulation F3 (3% crosscarmellose and 3% crosspovidone) showed rapid dissolution of about 99.34% in 15 min, and disintegration time 39 sec when compared with others. The percent drug release in 15 min (Q15) and initial dissolution rate for formulation F3 was 99.34±0.56%, 6.54%/min. These were very much higher compared to control tablets (36.48±0.82%, 2.43%/min). The dissolution efficiency was found to be increased by 3.5 fold with F3 formulation compared to control tablet. From the stability studies, the similarity index was found to be above 50 that indicates the stability of tablets. In conclusion, development of meclizine hydrochloride fast dissolving tablets using combination of superdisintegrants is showed improved results rather than the tablets with individual superdisintegrants. Further the efficacy of the developed formulations has to be assessed by pharmacokinetic studies.