Kathie Wee Ping Ling
, Mohd Amir Shahlan Mohd Aspar, Umme Tabassum Arobi Katha, Mohd Akmal Mohd Azhar
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Abstract
Gastroretentive drug delivery systems (GRDDS) have emerged as a highly promising strategy to achieve better therapeutic outcomes and enhance patient compliance in oral drug delivery systems. Among the GRDDS, conventional effervescent floating tablets are the most frequently implemented. However, this method often experiences a delay before floating, which results in incomplete drug release and reduced dose effectiveness. The issue of delay to float can be resolved by reengineering the tablet’s porous structure, which is referred to as sublimation. Sublimation is a method that has gained considerable attention to significantly enhance buoyancy and prolonged gastric retention with no floating lag time. This review emphasizes the optimization strategies for sublimation-based formulations. Camphor and menthol are reported among the promising sublimation agents, as they could prolong buoyancy up to 24 hours. Additionally, utilization of polymers like hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) is reported to be critical as it helps to control and maintain the integrity of dosage form and drug release. In this review, the principles, advantages, and disadvantages of frequently used sublimation agents are discussed individually and their combination to explore novel sublimation agents in GRDDS. In addition, the current strategies of sublimation in GRDDS and the potential for refining formulation parameters are examined to investigate possible alternatives to enhance therapeutic effects and optimize manufacturing processes.