CURRENT TRENDS IN PULSATILE DRUG DELIVERY SYSTEMS

The purpose for this review on pulsatile drug delivery systems (PDDS) is to compile the recent literatures with special focus on the different types and approaches involved in the development of the formulation. Pulsatile drug delivery system is the most interesting time and site-specific system. This system is designed for chronopharmacotherapy. Thus, to mimic the function of living systems and in view of emerging chronotherapeutic approaches, pulsatile delivery, which is meant to release a drug following programmed lag phase, has increasing interest in the recent years. Diseases wherein PDDS are promising include asthma, peptic ulcer, cardiovascular diseases, arthritis, and attention deficit syndrome in children, cancer, diabetes, and hypercholesterolemia. Pulsatile drug delivery system is divided into 2 types: preplanned system and stimulus induced system. Preplanned system is based on osmosis, rupturable layers, and erodible barrier coatings. Stimuli induced system is based on electrical, temperature and chemically induced systems. These systems are useful to several problems encountered during the development of a pharmaceutical dosage form.