Vol. 9, Issue 5, Part B (2023)

The aim of the present research work was to formulate and evaluate gastro-retentive floating dosage form of Ondansetron hydrochloride using a natural carrier system to improve its residence time in the stomach for better absorption of drug for the treatment of nausea and vomiting caused by chemotherapy drugs, radiation therapy and surgery. The natural carriers were used as an alternative to the synthetic polymers to avoid its unnecessary introduction in the body. Ondansetron hydrochloride is a competitive serotonin type 3 receptor antagonist. It is effective and widely used in the treatment of nausea and vomiting caused by cytotoxic chemotherapy drugs, radiation therapy and post-surgery. The current marketed formulations are injectable solutions, tablets, oral solutions, films and orally disintegrating tablets. Ondansetron hydrochloride when administered orally is absorbed rapidly and possesses a bioavability of 67% and short biological half-life of about 3 hours. Hence to prolong the gastric residence time and to get a controlled release of drug and reduce dosing frequency, it was proposed to develop floating drug delivery system of Ondansetron hydrochloride.

In this study, banana based carriers were tested for its floating ability and utilized in the development of the novel floating drug delivery system. Two different banana based carriers were developed, banana stem carriers and banana leaf carriers. The carriers were coated using two polymers i.e. Ethyl cellulose and hydroxy propyl methylcellulose. The carriers were further evaluated for following parameters: dimensions, appearance, drug content, bulk density, tapped density, in-vitro drug release studies in 0.1 N HCl, floating time and floating lag time. The carriers were found to show excellent buoyancy for more than 12 hours. The carriers were further subjected to accelerated stability testing according to ICH guidelines and were found to be stable hence could be used as floating carriers for delivery of Ondansetron hydrochloride.