Colonic delivery of film coated meloxicam tablets using natural polysaccharide polymer mixture

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Colon which is known as distal part of GIT was until recently, considered as a site for water reabsorption and residual carbohydrate fermentation. However, it is currently being viewed as a site for drug delivery. Presently, Colonic drug delivery is not only restricted to treatment of local disorders but also for systemic drug delivery. This distal part of GIT now has emerged completely for being considered as a site for administration of protein and peptide drug (Reddy et al., 1999). This is because colon provides a less hostile environment for drugs due to low diversity and intensity of digestive enzymatic activities, and a near neutral pH. Moreover colonic drug delivery is likely to increase; due to colon transit time may last for upto 78 h, the time available for drug absorption. Suitability of colonic drug delivery as a site for drug administration appears promising because this site is more responsive to absorption enhancers. Moreover, when a delay in drug absorption is required from a therapeutic point of view e.g. in case of diurnal asthma, angina, arthritis, etc. colonic delivery of drugs may be extremely useful (Kinget et al., 1998). In the recent studies, colon targeted drug delivery systems are gaining importance to treat local pathologies of the colon (crohn’s disease, inflammatory bowel disease, colonic cancer) and also for the systemic delivery of protein and peptide drugs. This is because the peptide and protein drugs gets destroyed or inactivated in acidic environment of the stomach or by pancreatic enzymes in the small intestine (Ojha et al., 2012). It is widely acknowledged that the extent of gastrointestinal tract drug absorption is related to contact time with the small intestinal mucosa. Thus, small intestinal transit time is an important parameter for drugs that are incompletely absorbed.

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