Development of Novel Floating Delivery System based on Psyllium: Application on Metformin Hydrochloride

psyllium, a medicinally active gel forming natural polysaccharide and a dietary fiber has been used as a medicine in myriad of conditions such as constipation and inflammatory bowel syndrome. One of its more recent uses that have received attention has been its ability to reduce blood sugar levels in diabetics. Therefore present work is an attempt to formulate anti diabetic drug Metformin as a controlled release floating delivery making use of pysllium as release retardant and to assist the drug in stabilizing blood sugar level in type II diabetics. Drug and excipients compatibility studies were monitored by thermal analysis using differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) and Fourier transform infra red (FTIR). The DSC thermogram and FTIR of drug and drug-polymer mixture did not reveal any incompatibility. psyllium was tried in different concentrations along with other polymers like HPMC K15M and carbopol 940 to achieve the desired release profile. The total drug: polymer ratio was kept between 1:0.4 to 1:0.5, and different polymer combinations were tried to achieve desired drug release for 12 hours. The prepared tablets were evaluated for in vitro release studies and floating behavior. Our conclusion from the present study indicated that pysllium could potentially be used in conjunction with other polymers to formulate controlled release formulations of anti-diabetic drugs to provide better control over blood glucose levels.