Floating Drug Delivery Sytems-A Review

In the research and development of rate controlled oral drug delivery systems, scientific and technological advances have been made in recent years by overcoming physiological adversities, such as short gastric residence times (GRT) and erratic gastric emptying times (GET). Several methods, including floating drug delivery systems (FDDS), also known as hydrodynamically balanced systems (HBS), swelling and expanding systems, polymeric bioadhesive systems, modified shape systems, high density systems, and other delayed gastric emptying devices, are currently being used in GRT prolongation. The various strategies used in the development of FDDS by constructing the buoyancy mechanism based on the effervescent and non-effervescent form of floating tablets. FDDS is a method of delivering locally active drugs with a small absorption window in the upper gastrointestinal tract, unstable in the lower intestinal environment, and with higher pH values that have low solubility. Recent advances in floating drug delivery systems include physiological and formulation variables influencing gastric retention time, approaches to the formulation of floating systems for single units and multiple units.