• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• v.35 no.6
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• pp.445-451
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• 2005

As a selective ${\alpha}_{1A}-adrenoreceptor$ antagonist, tamsulosin has been used clinically for urinary obstructed patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia. The single and multi-layered pellets containing tamsulosin hydrochloride were prepared in an effort to control the drug release, avoiding dose-dependent side effects of tamsulosin hydrochloride upon oral administration. The drug release from multi-layered pellets was substantially controlled, compared with single layered pellets. The drug release from coated pellets with single or multi layer was affected by the nature of coating agent, the percentage of coating level and the presence of hydrophilic material in coating layer. In conclusion, the controlled release oral delivery system using multi-layered pellet is very useful for tamsulosin hydrochloride, resulting in improvement of patient compliance and therapeutic drug levels for a longer period of time.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.39-44
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• 2006

Tamsulosin or a salt thereof such as its hydrochloride salt has been known to have an adrenaline ${\alpha}$ receptor blocking action for urethra and prostate areas. It has been widely used as a drug which lowers the prostate pressure and improves urinary disturbance accompanied by prostate-grand enlargement, thus for the treatment of prostatic hyperplasia. To avoid dose-dependent side effects of tamsulosin upon oral administration, the development of sustained-release delivery system is essentially required, that can maintain therapeutic drug levels for a longer period of time. The aim of this study was therefore to formulate sustained-release tamsulosin granules and assess their formulation variables. We designed entric coated sustained-release tamsulosin granules for this purpose. Nano-pores in the outer controlled release membrane were needed in order to obtain initial tamsulosin release even in an acidic environment such as gastric region. In our sustained release osmotic granule system, hydroxypropylmethylcellulose in a drug-containing layer was used as a rate controller. The drug-containing granules were coated with hydroxypropylmethylcellulose phthalate (HPMCP) and Eudragit, along with glycerol triacetate as an aqueous nano-pore former. The release of tamsulosin depended heavily on the type of Eudragit such as RS, RL, NE 30D, used in the formulation of controlled release layer. These results obtained clearly suggest that the sustained-release oral delivery system for tamsulosin could be designed with satisfying drug release profile approved by the Korean Food and Drug Administration.