Formulation and Evaluation of orally disintegrating tablets of Ondansetron Hydrochloride using Natural Superdisintegrants

Purpose: To develop orally disintegrating tablets of ondansetron HCl using natural Superdisintegrants. Method: Tablets containing the drug were prepared by dry granulation method using different concentrations of superdisintegrants such as modified gum karaya, modified natural agar, crosscarmellose sodium and sodium starch glycollate. The formulations were evaluated for weight variation, hardness, friability, drug content, wetting time, in vitro disintegration time and in vitro dissolution study. Results: The results showed that modified gum karaya and modified natural agar produce rapid disintegration of tablets. The optimized formulation showed acceptable physical characteristics. The optimized batch produced complete drug release within 6 minutes. The incorporation of clove oil provided additional properties such as symptomatic relief from nausea and vomiting, good mouth feel and taste masking. Kinetic analysis showed that drug release from optimized formulation was adequately described by first order release kinetics. Conclusion: Modified gum karaya and modified natural agar can be used as an alternative superdisintegrants to commonly available synthetic and semisynthetic superdisintegrants due to their low cost, biocompatibility as well as easily availability.