Development and Evaluation of Osmotically Controlled Oral Drug Delivery System

Conventional drug delivery systems have slight control over their drug release and almost no control over the effective concentration at the target site. This kind of dosing pattern may result in constantly changing, unpredictable plasma concentrations. Drugs can be delivered in a controlled pattern over a long period of time by the controlled or modified release drug delivery systems. They include dosage forms for oral and transdermal administration as well as injectable and implantable systems. For most of drugs, oral route remains as the most acceptable route of administration. Certain molecules may have low oral bioavailability because of solubility or permeability limitations. Development of an extended release dosage form also requires reasonable absorption throughout the gastro-intestinal tract (GIT). Among the available techniques to improve the bioavailability of these drugs fabrication of osmotic drug delivery system is the most appropriate one. Osmotic drug delivery systems release the drug with the zero order kinetics which does not depend on the initial concentration and the physiological factors of GIT. This review brings out new technologies, fabrication and recent clinical research in osmotic drug delivery. Osmotically controlled drug delivery systems use osmotic pressure for controlled delivery of active agent(s). Drug delivery from these systems, to a large extent, is independent of the physiological factors of the gastrointestinal tract. Because of their unique advantages over other types of dosage forms, osmotic pumps form a class of their own among the various drug delivery technologies, and a variety of products based on this technology are available on the market.