Design and Development of Mebeverine Compression Coated Tablets for Colonic Delivery

The main objective of this study was to develop mebeverine hydrochloride colon targeted drug delivery system using compression coating technique for effective treatment of irritable bowel syndrome. This work was mainly focused on the formulation & in-vitro evaluation of compression coated tablets of mebeverine hydrochloride with different pH dependent polymers like Eudragit L100-55, hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose phthalate (HPMC P55) & cellulose acetate phthalate. The fast disintegrating mebeverine core tablets were compression coated with different percentages of polymers in the outer coat. The prepared compression coated tablets were evaluated for invitro drug release studies using a change in pH method. A drug release was observed in the initial phases of dissolution in higher pH media like 7.4 upon erosion of pH dependent polymers. In order to avoid the drug release in the upper part of small intestine the formulations were further optimized with the help of different hydrophobic materials so that the lag time was prolonged and the drug release was started at lower part of intestine which can deliver maximum amount of drug to colon. Hydrophobic material ethyl cellulose was added to Eudragit L100-55, HPMC P55 and Magnesium stearate was added to cellulose acetate phthalate in the outer coat material. The addition of hydrophobic materials significantly increases the lag time and rapid drug release was observed after lag time.