DESIGN, DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION OF NOVEL ORAL MEDICATED JELLIES

Ranitidine Hydrochloride has a very bitter taste. The bitter taste of the drug makes administration of the dosage form difficult, especially to paediatric patients. Oral medicated jellies are novel drug delivery systems overcoming these problems. They are sucrose based formulation thus providing higher compliance. These formulations are also advantageous for geriatric and dysphagic patents. Natural polymers used in jelly formulation are biodegradable, biocompatible, nontoxic, low cost and environment friendly, locally available, better patient tolerated and edible. The aim was to develop and evaluate oral jelly formulations of Ranitidine Hydrochloride. Preformulation studies, organoleptic, physical characteristics, drug content, pH, syneresis, taste masking and in vitro dissolution testing were conducted. The Fourier transform infrared and differential scanning calorimeter studies showed that there was no interaction between drug and excipients. The concentration of gelling agents influenced the spreadability. The formulation F4 showing good pourabilty and gelling property so it was selected for further optimization by varying the degrees brix (⁰Brix). The pH of all the formulations was found between pH 5 to 6. The optimized formulations (F4.3) masked the bitter taste of Ranitidine Hydrochloride and demonstrated acceptable physical properties with 50% drug release in 15 min. The formulation was tested for microbial growth and was found to be stable. Key words: Pediatrics, bitter taste, oral medicated jellies, natural polymers, ranitidine hydrochloride