FORMULATION AND EVALUATION OF EMULGEL OF FLURBIPROFEN

Abstract

Topical drug delivery has been used for the treatment of local skin disorders. Emulgel have emerged as one of the most interesting topical delivery systems as it has dual control release system i.e. gel and emulsion form. One side the topical applications of the drug offer the potential advantages of delivering the drug directly to the site of action and secondly delivering the drug for extended period of time at the effected site. The major objective behind this formulation is enhancing the topical delivery of hydrophobic drug (flurbiprofen) by formulating flurbiprofen emulgel using high molecular weight water soluble polymer of hydroxy propyl methyl cellulose (HPMC K100M), carbopol 940, carbopol 941 and xanthan gum. Oleic acid and propylene glycol were used as permeation enhancers. The influence of the type of the gelling agent on the drug release from the prepared emulgel was investigated. The prepared emulgels were evaluated for their physical appearance, pH determination, viscosity, spreadability, extrudability, in-vitro drug release, ex-vivo drug release and stability. All the prepared emulgels showed acceptable physical properties, homogeneity, consistency, spreadability, viscosity and pH value. The in-vitro release rate of emulgel was evaluated using diffusion cell containing dialysis membrane with phosphate buffer pH 7.4 as the receptor medium. FOA4, FOA1, FPG4 and FOA3 have shown more than 75% drug release for 8 h respectively. Ex-vivo studies indicated that the FOA4 formulated with xanthan gum in the concentration of 2% have shown superior drug release of 56.63 % compared with the other formulations. The emulgels were found to be stable with respect to physical appearance, pH, rheological properties and drug content at all temperature and conditions for one month.