Formulation and Evaluation of Fast Dissolving Drug Delivery System of Pantoprazole Sodium by Direct Compression Technique

  Fast dissolving drug delivery system offers a solution for those patients having difficulty in swallowing tablet. In the present study, an attempt has been made to formulate fast dissolving tablets of Pantoprazole Sodium Sesquihydrate using superdisintegrants such as Croscarmellose sodium (Ac‐Di‐Sol), Sodium starch glycolate (Explotab) and Crosspovidone by direct compression technique. The prepared tablets were evaluated for hardness, friability, wetting time, weight variation, in vitro disintegration time and in vitro dissolution study. The hardness of the tablets was in the range of 3.0 ‐ 4.0 Kg/cm². The percentage friability of the tablets was less than one. Weight variation test results showed that the tablets were deviating from the average weight within the permissible limits of ±7.5 %. Drug content uniformity study results showed the uniform dispersion of the drug throughout the formulation i.e. 98.54% to 101.23%. Tablets containing Crosspovidone (F9) showed better disintegrating character along with the rapid release (99.83% drug within 4 minutes). No appreciable difference was found between the formulations containing other two superdisintegrants. Crosspovidone was found to be better suited for the formulation of mouth dissolving tablet of Pantoprazole Sodium Sesquihydrate compared to other superdisintegrarnts used in the study.