design, development and in-vitro characterisation of gelucire based floating beads of cefixime trihydrate

Abstract

The aim of formulating Cefixime Trihydrate floating beads was to have the sustained release antibiotic which will not only increase patient compliance but also will be helpful for the individual’s who cannot take the dose on regular intervals. Cefixime Trihydrate is a thrid generation cephalosporin antibiotic with a high curative effect on many diseases. For this purpose , calcium ions were used as a binder to prepare alginate and alginate gelucire beads by ionotropic gelation method, method was tested by three different grades of Gelucire to know the different properties. Beads were subjected to In-Vitro drug release in 0.1 N HCl (pH 1.2) for first 2 hours followed by phosphate buffer (pH 6.8) for remaining hours. In-vitro drug release data were fitting to Higuchi and peppas equation. Next, the properties of the beads, drug penetration into the bead and drug release kinetics were investigated. The results showed that due to the increased concentration of alginate in the formulation, The spherical shape of beads was maintained, resulting in a sustained release. The excess amount of Sodium Alginate and Calcium Chloride was making the beads in irregular shape.