Characterization of Elementary Osmotic Pump Developed for Controlled Delivery of Inorganic Therapeutic Agent

Elementary Osmotic Pump (EOP) Tablets was developed for controlled zero order delivery of Sodium Fluoride (NaF) as an inorganic therapeutic agent. The EOP tablets coated with cellulose Acetate (CA) semi-permeable membrane has exhibited zero-order release of NaF. The Osmotic pump tablets coated with microporous membrane delivered the NaF with first order release rate. The EOP tablets coated with semi-permeable membrane is characterized for delivery orifice size range, coating material thickness/weight gain, dissolution media pH effect and agitation intensity effect. The NaF EOP tablets were also prepared by inclusion of Sodium Chloride (NaCL) in tablet core composition. The NaF EOP tablet with NaCL in core composition has showed more sustained release of NaF than EOP tablets without NaCL. The significantly more sustained delivery of NaF from EOP tablet may be attributed to the common ion effect produced because of Na+ common ion in both NaF and NaCL. Hence common ion effect can be utilized in EOP tablets to have more sustained delivery of inorganic therapeutic agent and to achieve its targeted delivery rate by using optimized quantity of common ion salt.