Formulation and Evaluation of Nicotine Buccal Films for Smoking Cessation

Smoking is injurious to health. Smoking cessation is the process of discontinuing smoking. Nicotine present in tobacco is addictive and makes the process of quitting very prolonged and complex. Nicotine causes pulmonary diseases, lung cancer and heart diseases. Quitting smoking drastically reduces risk of dying from tobacco-related diseases. The current established procedures for smoking cessation have wide variety of side effects and in comparison buccal thin films are better alternative due to negligible side effects and fast discharge of nicotine , which also avoids first pass metabolism. So the aim of the study was to develop the films for potential delivery of Nicotine by the buccal mucosa of Adult patients. Films were prepared using hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose (HPMC K-15), hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose (HPMC E-5), glycerin as plasticizer, sucrose as sweetener, citric acid as saliva stimulating agent and water as solvent. Nicotine is freely soluble in alcohol and miscible in Water. Hence alcohol is used as a co-solvent to enhance the solubility of nicotine in water. The films were prepared by using solvent casting method and then evaluated. Buccal film is useful for improving the patient compliance due to ease of use.