Floating Drug Delivery System – A Review

The principal objective behind the writing of this article on the floating drug delivery system (FDDS) was to systematize the recent literature with the core process of floatation in acquiring gastric retention. The novel methodologies in FDDS include approaches to design a single unit and multiple-unit floating systems, the physiological and formulation variability affecting gastric retention along with the use of recently invented and developed polymers. FDDS is the drug delivery system that floats immediately upon contact with gastric fluids present promising approaches for increasing the bioavailability of drugs with absorption windows in the upper small intestine. However immediate floating can only be achieved if the density of them device is low at the very beginning. This review also summarizes the in vitro techniques, in vivo studies to evaluate the performance and application of floating systems. Floating dosage forms can be delivered in conventional forms like tablets, capsules with the addition of suitable ingredients along with the gas generating agent. This review also throws light on some approaches to prepare a floating system, evaluation methods and characterization for FDDS pharmaceutical dosage form and also it’s classification and different techniques used in developing floating dosage forms along with current and novel advancements.