Formulation and In vitro Evalution of Gellan Gum/Carbopol and Sodium Alginate based Solution to Gel Depot of Ketotifen Fumarate System

Conventional ophthalmic solutions often eliminate rapidly after administration and cannot provide and maintain an adequate concentration of the drug in the precorneal area. To solve these problems, we developed a pH in situ gelling and mucoadhesive ophthalmic drug delivery system containing ketotifen fumarate based on gellan gum. The pasture of ocular drug delivery is one of the fascinating and challenging endeavors facing the pharmaceutical scientist. The most frequently used dosage forms i.e. ophthalmic solutions and suspensions are compromised in their effectiveness by several limitations, leading poor ocular bioavailability. The viscosity of in situ system was found to be in the range (85 to 92 cps) for the sol, whereas for the gels it was up to (7000 to 17000 cps). The maximum gel strength and mucoadhesion was found to be up to (102 seconds) and (58.33 dynes/cm) respectively. In vitro release studies demonstrated diffusion-prolong release of ketotifen fumarate from the combined polymer solutions over a period of 6 h. It appears that ocular bioavailability can be increased more readily by using the in situ gelling and mucoadhesive vehicle.