PLANT POLYMERS AS EXCIPIENTS IN DOSAGE FORM DESIGN

Drug dosage forms contain many components in addition to the active pharmaceutical ingredient(s) to assist in the manufacturing process as well as to optimize drug delivery. Due to advances in drug delivery technology, excipients are currently included in novel dosage forms to fulfill specific functions and in some cases they directly or indirectly influence the extent and/or rate of drug release and absorption. Since plant polysaccharides comply with many requirements expected of pharmaceutical excipients such as non-toxicity, stability, availability and renewability they are extensively investigated for use in the development of solid oral dosage forms. Furthermore, polysaccharides with varying physicochemical properties can be extracted from plants at relatively low cost and can be chemically modified to suit specific needs. Research is currently underway to investigate the possibility of using aloe leave gel as excipient in the production of matrix type tablets to control the release rate of drugs.