Metformin hydrochloride (metformin HCl) was formulated as a hydrophobic matrix sustained release tablet employing wax materials and the sustained release behavior of the fabricated tablet was investigated. Sustained release matrix tablets containing 500 mg metformin HCl were developed using different bees wax combinations. The tablets were prepared by wet granulation technique. The formulation was optimized on the basis of acceptable tablet properties and in vitro drug release. The resulting formulation produced monolithic tablets with optimum hardness, uniform thickness, consistent weight uniformity and low friability. Statistically significant differences were found among the drug release profile from different bees wax combination matrices. The results of dissolution studies indicated that formulations F-III, F-IV and F-V (bees wax and cetyl alcohol combination matrices), exhibited drug release pattern very close to theoretical release profile. Applying kinetic equation models, the mechanism of release of the drug from the three formulations was found to be followed Higuchi model, as the plots showed high linearity, with correlation coefficient (R²) value of 0.98 or more. Tablet matrices containing cetyl alcohol gave better release of the drug than other materials studied. However, the rate of release varied with amount of cetyl alcohol in the matrix. The 'n' value lies below 0.5 (Korsmeyer-Peppas model) demonstrating that the mechanism controlling the drug release was the quasi Fickian. Therefore, the results of the kinetic study obtained permit us to conclude that the fabricated hydrophobic matrix tablets, in this case, delivers the drug through diffusion dominated mechanism.
Metformin HCl; Hydrophobic matrices; Drugs; Kinetic model; Higuchi's equation
