Design and optimization of ketoprofen floating tablets

The objective of the present research work is design and optimize hydrodynamically balanced Ketoprofen (KF) floating tablets to enhance their gastric residence time because it has a narrow absorption window, poor bioavailability and short half-life. The Central Composite design is used to optimize the amount of Guar gum (X1) and HPMC K100M (X2) as two independent variables and study how they affect the two response such as in vitro Buoyancy lag time (Y1) and in vitro drug release (t50 Y2). Eleven trials were developed through the Central Composite design (CCD) to study all the optimal interaction between variables and responses through a polynomial equation. The optimized formulation is then characterized using pre-compression, post-compression tests, in vitro drug release and kinetic drug release. The Buoyancy time (lag time) and t50 of optimized floating tablet are 2.5 min and 6.68 hr respectively. The optimized formulations followed Higuchi's kinetics while the drug release mechanism was found to be anomalous type, controlled by diffusion through the swollen matrix. The results show that the hydrodynamically balanced systems significantly prolonging the KF drug release also improving its gastric residence time in the stomach. This research contributes to the field of drug delivery systems by providing a novel approach for improving the therapeutic efficacy of KF and potentially other drugs with similar characteristics