FORMULATION AND EVALUATION OF VENLAFAXINE HYDROCHLORIDE MICROSPHERES

Barish*, E. Abraham Theodore, M. Mumtaj Begum, Manivel and Amrin

ABSTRACT

Microspheres have been widely accepted as a mean to achieve oral and parenteral controlled release. A number of different substances both biodegradable as well as non-biodegradable have been investigated for the preparation of microspheres 1,2,3. Venlafaxine hydrochloride is an effective widely used novel antidepressant drug. It has a short biological half-life of 52 hrs and is rapidly eliminated. Therefore attempts have been made to develop sustained release microspheres of venlafaxine hydrochloride. So, in this present study an attempt was made to incorporate venlafaxine hydrochloride into ethyl cellulose microspheres by using emulsification and organic solvent evaporation technique and its release profile was evaluated through the in-vitro release pattern study of drug from ethyl cellulose microspheres containing Venlafaxine hydrochloride, Stability studies of ethyl cellulose microspheres containing Venlafaxine hydrochloride and Evaluation of the optimized formulation by Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM).

Keywords: Microspheres, Venlafaxine hydrochloride, ethyl cellulose, short half-life.