Formulation and in vitro evaluation of ofloxacin as floating drug delivery system

The present study outlines a systematic approach for designing and development of Ofloxacin floating tablets to enhance the bioavailability and therapeutic efficacy of the drug. Floating tablets of Ofloxacin have shown controlled release thereby proper duration of action at a particular site and are designed to prolong the gastric residence time after oral administration. Floating tablets of Ofloxacin were prepared employing different polymers like HPMC K100M, Karaya, Carbopol 934p and combination of HPMC K100M and Karaya gum along with sodium bicarbonate and citric acid as gas generating agent. The Floating tablets were evaluated for uniformity of weight, hardness, friability, drug content, in-vitro buoyancy, swelling index study, dissolution studies and stability studies. The effects of different concentrations of HPMC, Carbopol 934p and Karaya gum on drug release profile and floating properties were investigated. Comparable release profiles between the commercial product and the designed system were obtained. The model fitting showed that the optimized formulations (OH5, OHK3, OHKC1) followed Higuchi and Peppas model, which had a higher value of correlation coefficient (r). While tablet hardness had little or no effect on the release kinetics and was found to be a determining factor with regards to the buoyancy of the tablets.