Objective: Now days as very few anti diabetic drugs are coming out of research and development and some existing drugs are showing several side effects when administered orally, multiple times in a day, hence change in the operation is a suitable and optimized way to make some drug more effective by slight alteration in the drug delivery. Herbs and gums are extracted from many seeds, plants and fruits, such as fenugreek gum Trigonella foenum graecum L., also known as fenugreek seed or methi in Hindi. It is a herbaceous plant of the Fabaceae family. Seeds of Trigonella foenum graecum L.
Methods: A various metformin formulations containing hydrophillic and hydrophobic carrier, which is prepared by factorial design. Formulation technique of metformin hydrochloride is wet granulation employing both Xanthan Gum and Hydroxy Propyl Methyl Cellulose (HPMC K4M) as a rate controlling polymer and direct compression method is evaluated. This carrier and polymer influenced the method of preparation on metformin release in-vitro as well as other physiochemical were studied from the formulation.
Results: The development of oral sustained release systems has been a challenge to formulation scientists due to their inability to restrain and localize the system at targeted areas of the gastrointestinal tract. From all the formulation trial batches, formulation F7 shows the best results. It has been observed that HPMC K4M alone cannot give satisfactory drug release profile but the blend of HPMC K4M and Xanthan gum together give the best drug release kinetics.
Conclusion: The use of a hydrophobic carrier along with a hydrophilic polymer effectively controls the initial rapid release of a highly water soluble drug such as metformin HCl. Thus, sustained release matrix tablets of metformin hydrochloride can be expected to reduce the frequency of administration and decrease the dose dependent side effects.
