Development of Thermoreversible Moxifloxacin Hydrochloride Ophthalmic Formulation

The field of Ocular drug delivery is one of the interesting and challenging endeavors facing the pharmaceutical scientist. The most frequently used dosage forms i.e. ophthalmic solutions and suspensions are compromised in their effectiveness by several limitations, leading poor ocular bioavailability. In situ hydrogels are instilled as drops into the eye and undergoes a sol to gel transition in the cul-de-sac, improved ocular bioavailability by increasing the duration of contact with corneal tissue, thereby reducing the frequency of administration. The purpose of the present work was to develop an ophthalmic in situ gel of Moxifloxacin HCl a fluoroquinolone antibiotic. Poloxamer 407 a temperature sensitive gelling agent was employed for the formation of in situ hydrogel along with sodium alginate as a mucoadhesive polymer. In-situ gel was evaluated for various parameters like appearance, pH, drug content, gelling capacity, gel strength, bioadhesion, viscosity, In-vitro drug release, isotonicity, sterility, antifungal activity, ocular irritancy and stability studies. The gel strength, bioadhesion and isotonicity shown quality parameter for ophthalmic formulation. The optimized formulation containing 10% w/v poloxamer 407 and 0.1% w/v sodium alginate have shown 96.84% drug release up to 8 hrs. This is sufficient for antibacterial activity. Drug release kinetic study shown that a Korsmeyers-peppas is the best-fit model. This study found that an optimized formulation having improved viscosity and better mucoadhesive property may improve the bioavaibility of ocular administration of moxifloxacin HCl in in-situ gel form and can be alternative to the conventionally administered oral formulation and effectively used to prolong residence time.