Development of Nasal In-situ Gel Formulation of Fexofenadine HCl Using Gellan Gum (Gelerite®)

Abstract

This study aimed to develop and assess an in-situ nasal gel containing fexofenadine hydrochloride for nasal administration by employing polymers with in-situ gelling characteristics. Formulations containing Gelerite, HPMC K4M and β-cyclodextrin were used to formulate in situ nasal gel. Formulations were liquid before administration and quickly converted to gel after nasal administration. The FTIR studies of drugs, polymers and physical mixtures of drug polymers were carried out. These research results indicated that, in comparison to pure drugs, there have been no considerable modifi cations in the drug bands. Hence, the FTIR study revealed that the formulation doesn’t have any drug-polymer interaction. In order to estimate rheological studies, a Fungilab Brookfi eld viscometer was used to test the formulation’s viscosity. The ranges of the rheological properties of the solution and gel were shown to be 91 ± 1.73 to 125 ± 0.77 and 2740 ± 1.55 to 4675 ± 1.43, respectively. The gel strength of formulations F1 to F9 was found to be in the range of 34 ± 1.00 to 51.23 ± 1.77 seconds. It was shown that the viscosity of the formulation decreased at increasing shear stress, exhibiting shear thinning behavior. A viscosity of formulation increase was noticed with an increase in polymer ratio. All formulations were subjected to an in-vitro diff usion analysis, which will demonstrate the impact of various factors on the formulation’s ability to release the drugs.