Novel Sustained Release Drug Delivery System of Alfuzosin Hydrochloride with Improved Bioavailability: Investigation of Drug Release Kinetics

Present study outlines a systematic approach for design and development of Alfuzosin hydrochloride floating-mucoadhesive tablets to enhance the bioavailability and therapeutic efficacy of the drug. Alfuzosin hydrochloride, an α-adrenergic receptor blocker used for the treatment of symptomatic prostatic hyperplasia is primarily dissolved and absorbed from the upper gastro intestinal tract. Different formulations of Alfuzosin HCl were prepared by wet granulation technique using HPMC K4M, HPMC K15M, Na CMC, Carbopol 934 and Chitosan as polymers along with other standard excipients. The formulations were evaluated for their physicochemical properties, floating capacity, swelling index, percent erosion and in-vitro drug release. Optimized formulation FM2 containing HPMC K4M, HPMC K15M and Na CMC showed floating lag time of 34 sec and total floating time of 12 h. In-vitro drug release mechanism was evaluated by linear regression analysis. The r² value for zero order plot was found to be 0.995 and 'n' value for Korsmeyer-Peppas was found to be 0.83 indicating that the drug release mechanism was non-fickian diffusion. Therefore, it can be concluded that formulation containing combination of high and low viscosity HPMC along with sodium CMC shows good mucoadhesive properties and is capable of sustaining release of Alfuzosin HCl up to 12 hrs in upper gastrointestinal tract.