FORMULATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF FLURBIPROFEN CONTAINING FILM FORMING GEL

The purpose of present research work was to develop a Film Forming gel formulation of flurbiprofen using carbopol 934 as a gelling agent for topical delivery with the aim to avoid hepatic first pass metabolism, improve stability of emulsion, reduce dosage regimen and enhance residence time in the treatment of Rheumatoid arthritis. Film Forming gels have emerged as one of the most interesting topical drug delivery systems as it has dual release control i.e. Film and gel. The developed gels were evaluated for their physicochemical properties like color, homogeneity, consistency, spreadability, pH value, rheological behaviour, drug content, drug release and stability. All the prepared film forming gels showed satisfactory physicochemical properties like color, homogeneity, consistency, spreadability, and pH value. The drug release was found to be higher for optimized formulation as compared to the other prepared formulations. The highest drug content was observed with F2, i.e; 98.66%. The drug releases from all the gels were found to follow diffusion-controlled mechanism. Stability studies indicated that the physical appearance, rheological properties, spreadability, drug content in all the prepared gels remained unchanged upon storage for 3 months.