Formulation Development and Evaluation of Gastroretentive Floating Tablet of Vildagliptin

The present study was an attempt to formulate and evaluate a floating tablet of vildagliptin using polymers such as HPMC K4M, Carbopol 934, NaHCO3, and citric acid as gas producers. vildagliptin, an antidiabetic drug with 85% oral bioavailability, short half-life (1.5 hours) and largely associated with an acidic pH, is believed to increase gastric survival and therapeutic efficacy. This can be achieved by making floating pills that stay in the stomach for a long time to release the drug. The tablets are formulated using the direct compression method. The effects of sodium bicarbonate and citric acid on pharmacokinetic and potentiating properties were studied. The tablets were evaluated for pressure parameters before and after compression such as fragility, hardness, thickness, drug content, weight change, in vitro buoyancy studies, and in vitro drug release studies, and the results were in range. In vitro drug release studies were performed in USP Type II with 0.1 N HCl. Of all the prepared formulas (F1 to F9), Trust F3 was the best with a lift delay of 82 seconds. This tablet is fresh for more than 12 hours. The drug release data were fitted into various kinetic models in vitro and the best fit was obtained with zero order models. The improved F3 formula follows zero diffusion kinetics through non-viscous diffusion.