Abstract

DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF SUSTAINED RELEASE PELLETS OF BOSENTAN BY PAN COATING PROCESS

G. Venkata Ramireddy* and K.V. Ramana Murthy

ABSTRACT

The goal of the present study is to evaluate the influence of the formulation and operating conditions on pellet preparation by the pan technique. For this bosentan was selected as the model drug. Pellets were prepared by layering of powdered drug on sugar-based cores. Inert cores were intermittently treated with micronized drug powder and binding solution. This treatment led to the formation of multiple layers of drug particles around an inert core resulting in the production of pellets that can further be coated by different polymers to obtain modified release formulations. Scanning electron microscopy was employed to image the surface morphology of the prepared pellets. Drug loading efficiency, % yield, size and shape uniformity of pellets were increased along with increasing the initial core weight. Drug content and dissolution study were performed by following HPLC and UV–Visible method. The formulations were further characterized to identify any possible interactions by FTIR spectroscopy and differential scanning calorimetry. The surface morphology of the pellets was studied by scanning electron microscopy.

Keywords: Bosentan, pellets, pan coating, surface morphology, binding solution.