Floating Drug Delivery System: a Review

The purpose of writing this review on floating drug delivery systems (FDDS) was to compile the recent literature with special focus on the types of floating drug delivery systems, principal and mechanism of floatation to achieve gastric retention. Drug delivery systems are those that float immediately upon contact with gastric fluids present promising approaches for increasing the bioavailability of drugs with absorption windows in the upper small intestine. However, immediate floating can only be achieved if the density of the device is low at the very beginning. Devices with an initially high density (which decreases with time) first settle down in the stomach and, thus, undergo the risk of premature emptying. Inherent low density can, for example, be provided by the entrapment of air or by the incorporation of low density materials or foam powder. This review explains briefly about factors affecting floating system, evaluation parameters and application of the system. INTRODUCTION: Despite tremendous advancement in drug delivery, oral route of administration has received the more attention and success because the gastrointestinal physiology offers more flexibility in dosage form design than other routes. Hence, research continuously keeps on searching for ways to deliver drugs over an extended period of time, with a well-controlled release profile. Gastric emptying of dosage form is extremely variable process and ability to prolong and control the emptying time. Gastric transit time is valuable asset for dosage forms, which reside in the stomach for a long period of time than conventional dosage form.