• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• 제41권2호
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• pp.67-73
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• 2011

Ion exchange resins can be one of the good carriers for sustained drug release. However, the sustained release may not be enough only with themselves and hence film coating with rate controlling polymers can be applied to have a further effect on the drug release. Due to the environmental and economic issues of organic solvent for the polymer coating, aqueous polymeric systems were selected to develop dosage forms. Among the many aqueous polymeric dispersions for the film coating, EC (ethylcellulose) based polymers such as Aquacoat$^{(R)}$ ECD and Surelease$^{(R)}$ were evaluated.A fluid-bed coating was applied as a processing method. The drug release rate was quite dependent on the coating level so the release rate could be modified easily by changing different levels of the coating. The drug release rate in the Aquacoat$^{(R)}$ coated resin particles was strongly dependent on curing, which is a thermal treatment to make homogeneous films and circumvent drug release changes during storage. After dissolution test using the compressed tablets in which the coated resin particles are contained, inhomogeneous coating and even pores could be observed showing that the mechanical properties of EC were not resistant to granulation and compaction process. However, when tablets were prepared in different batches, the release profiles were almost identical showing the feasibility of the coated resin particle as incorporated into the tablet formulation.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• 제20권6호
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• pp.555-559
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• 1997

The three different batches of an oral sustained release melatonin (MT) delivery system were prepared by aqueous-based fluid-bed coating of the sugar spheres for the evaluation of in vitro release characteristics and plasma concentration profiles in human subjects. The MT contents in 20% coated sugar spheres of three batches (B1, B2 and B3) were $3.3{\pm}0.08$, $2.4{\pm}0.1$ and $2.5{\pm}0.13$ mg per gram of coated sugar spheres, respectively. The release profiles of three different batches had a very similar fashion. However, the release profiles of three different batches had a very similar fashion. However, the release half-lives $(T_{50%})$ of MT from B1, B2 and B3 was $3.70{\pm}0.2$, $5.2{\pm}0.2$ and $4.9{\pm}0.07h$, respectively. Plasma concentration profiles of sustained release 0.2mg melatonin-loaded sugar spheres containing 10% immediate release melatonin in gelatin capsules (B1 and B2) were then evaluated in human subjects. The in vivo plasma concentration profies of the two batches (B1 and B2) were very similar each other and located between the physiological endogenous ranges. The time to reach the peak concentration $(T_max)$ was more advanced in case of B1 when compared to B2. However, there was no statistically significant difference in the maximum concentration $(C_max)$ and the area under the curve (AUC) between B1 and B2. The AUC of melatonin-loaded sugar spheres containing 10% and 20% immediate release MT in human subjects had a good linearity between dose and AUC, regardless of the fraction of immediate release MT, indicating the first order elimination process of MT within these doses. The current oral sustained release MT delivery system may be utilized to treat circadian rhythm disorders if it is proven to be more clinically useful when compared to immediate release MT.