Formulation Design of Fast Disintegrating Tablets Using Disintegrant Blends

In the present work, fast disintegrating tablets of prochlorperazine maleate were designed with a view to enhance patient compliance by direct compression method. In this method, crospovidone (up to 3% w/w) and croscarmellose sodium (up to 5% w/w) in combination were used as superdisintegrants. Since disintegrants complement each other, accelerating the disintegration process when used together. Estimation of prochlorperazine maleate in the prepared tablet formulations was carried out by extracting the drug with methanol and measuring the absorbance at 254.5nm. The prepared formulations were further evaluated for hardness, friability, drug content uniformity, in vitro dispersion time, wetting time and water absorption ratio. Based on in vitro dispersion time (approximately 12 s), one promising formulation was tested for in vitro drug release pattern in phosphate buffer pH 6.8 and short-term stability (at 40°/70% RH for 3 mo), drug-excipient interaction (IR spectroscopy) were studied. Among the formulations tested, formulation DCPC(4) containing 5% w/w of croscarmellose sodium and 3% w/w of crospovidone as superdisintegrant emerged as the overall best (t(50%) 7.0 min) based on drug release characteristics in pH 6.8 phosphate buffer compared to commercial conventional tablet formulation (t(50%) 17.4 min). Short-term stability studies on the promising formulation indicated that there were no significant changes in drug content and in vitro dispersion time (p<0.05).