DESIGN AND CHARACTERIZATION OF NOVEL EMULGEL FOR PAIN MANAGEMENT

Topical DDS is a localized system preferred for drugs having hurdles like first pass metabolism through gastro intestinal absorption, reduced bioavailability, relatively short residence time and dose dumping. To provide continuous percutaneous absorption of drug at controlled rate which overcomes problems associated with GI absorption for oral DDS, semisolid formulations like cream, ointment and gel were preferred in topical DDS applied on skin. Amongst them gels having more aqueous portion have greater dissolution of drug. But these properties are suitable for hydrophilic drugs and not for hydrophobic drugs. This problem was solved by formulating an emulgel in which hydrophobic drugs can be incorporated in gel and used for topical application. The aim of this work was to develop emulgel of acelofenac a hydrophobic drug using Carbapol 940 as gelling agent and clove oil and mentha oil as penetration enhancers. Another aim was to investigate effect of concentration and formulation parameters on spreading coefficient drug release and viscosity of prepared emulgel.