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Abstract

Many therapeutic agents are most effective when made available at constant rates, near the absorption sites or at the correct time of administration. Pulsatile drug delivery system is the most interesting time-specific and sitespecific system. This system is designed for chronopharmacotherapy which is based on circadian rhythm. Recently a greater effort has been taken in designing delivery systems which synchronize drug delivery with circadian rhythms in order to optimize efficacy and /or minimize side effects. Pulsatile systems deliver the drug at right site of action at the right time and in the right amount. Chronotherapeutics is the discipline concerned with the delivery of drugs according to inherent activities of a disease over a certain period of time. Chronotherapy can particularly benefit patients suffering from allergic rhinitis, rheumatoid arthritis and related disorders, asthma, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and peptic ulcer disease. This review gives an outline as to how pulsatile drug delivery systems based on circadian rhythms are developed.