Design and in Vitro Evaluation of Mucoadhesive Buccal Films of Lercanidipine Hcl

Lercanidipine hydrochloride, an anti hypertension drug, undergoes extensive first pass metabolism to inactive metabolites leading to very poor oral bioavailability. To overcome this problem, buccal films of Lercanidipine hydrochloride were prepared by solvent casting method, employing HPMC, HPC (alone and in combination with PVP) and PVP K30. The film thickness, weight, folding endurance, mucoadhesive strength and time were dependent on the nature and concentration of polymers used. The optimized film (F12, HPMC 3% and PVP 1.5%) showed: Swelling index (51.26 ± 1.90 %), ex vivo mucoadhesive strength (12.64 ± 0.83 grams) and time (3.6 ± 0.5hrs). In vitro drug release was inversely proportional to the polymeric concentration. Ex- vivo drug release studies carried out using goat buccal membrane was slower (42.90%, 6 hrs) compared to in vitro drug release (74.2%, 8hrs) for the same formulation (F12). The drug release mechanism for the optimized formulation followed zero order kinetics. FT-IR and DSC studies revealed the absence of any interaction between the formulation ingredients. The films remained stable during the accelerated stability conditions.