26Lyophilized wafers comprising sodium alginate (SA) and gelatin (GE) (0/100, 75/25, 27 50/50, 25/75, 0/100 SA/GE respectively) with silver sulfadiazine (SSD, 0.1% w/w) have 28 been developed for potential application on infected chronic wounds. Polymer-drug 29 interactions and physical form were characterized by Fourier transform infrared 30 spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) respectively, while morphological 31 structure was examined using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Functional 32 characteristics [(mechanical hardness and adhesion using texture analyzer, and swelling 33 capacity)] of blank wafers were determined as performed in order to select the optimal 34 formulations for drug loading. Finally, the in vitro drug dissolution properties of two 35 selected drug loaded wafers were investigated. There was an increase in hardness and a 36 decrease in mucoadhesion with increasing GE content. FTIR showed hydrogen bonding 37 and electrostatic interaction between carboxyl of SA and amide of GE but no interaction 38 between the polymers and drug was observed, with XRD showing that SSD remained 39 crystalline during gel formulation and freeze-drying. The results suggest that 75/25 40 SA/GE formulations are the ideal formulations due to their uniformity and optimal 41 mucoadhesivity and hydration. The drug loaded wafers showed controlled release of SSD 42 over a 7 hour period which is expected to reduce bacterial load within infected wounds. 43 44