Evaluation of gum sandarac as a novel release controlling coating polymer for formulation of sustained release pellets

Polymeric coating techniques have been widely used in the pharmaceutical industries for diversified reasons. Various materials are being investigated as polymers as there is scarcity of good polymeric materials to be used in pharmaceutical products. The present study was aimed at evaluating novel natural material gum sandarac, a resin obtained by incision from the stem of Callitris quadrivalvis , Ventenat (N.O. Coniferae) Pinaceae as a coating material for developing coated pellets for sustained release of drug and comparing it with well known ethyl cellulose as hydrophobic polymeric material. Drug layered NPS, drug loaded pellets prepared with extrusion spheronization and NPS coated with drug polymer matrix were used as multi particulate formulation. The results indicate that Gum Sandarac is very efficient in retarding release of drugs from different pellet formulations yielding very superior quality pellet.