Floating drug delivery system- a review

Abstract

In the recent years, scientific and technological advancements have been made in the research and development of novel drug delivery systems by overcoming various physiological problems such as short gastric residence times and unpredictable gastric emptying times. Several approaches are utilized in the prolongation of the gastric residence times, such as floating drug delivery systems, swelling and expanding systems, polymeric bioadhesive systems, modified-shape systems, high-density systems and other delayed gastric emptying devices. Floating Drug Delivery Systems (FDDS) is one amongst the GRDFs used to achieve prolonged gastric residence time. The purpose of writing this review on floating drug delivery systems (FDDS) was to compile the recent literature with special focus on the principal mechanism of floatation to achieve gastric retention. The recent developments of FDDS including the physiological and formulation variables affecting gastric retention, approaches to design single-unit and multiple-unit floating systems, and their classification and formulation aspects are covered in detail. This review also summarizes the in-vitro techniques, in- vivo studies to evaluate the performance and application of floating systems, and applications of these systems.