MICROSPONGES: A COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW AND ITS RECENT INNOVATIONS

In recent years many new pharmaceuticals sustain release formulation are developed like liposomes, niosomes, microspheres, nanaospheres etc. among them microsponges is one of the novel formulations. Physically microsponges are sponge like submicron structure with porous nature. As the formulation is porous nature with inter particular space, more amount of drug entrapment is possible and sustain release of drug can be achieved. Many microsponge preparations are limited to topical applications. Recent studies revels that this formulation can explore to other areas like gastro retentive systems, colon targeting, cosmetics, ophthalmic preparations etc. In the current review discuss about various aspects of microsponges like their preparation, characterization, safety aspects, recent developments and the future development aspects.