Formulation and in Vitro Evaluation of Ramelteon Tablets for Colon Drug Delivery System by Compression Coating

Abstract

Objective: Ramelteon, is a sleep agent that selectively binds to the MT1 and MT2 receptors in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), instead of binding to GABAA receptors. In the present research work, the formulation of ramelteon targeted to colon by using various polymers developed.
 Methods: Colon-targeted tablets were prepared in two steps. Initially, core tablets were prepared and then the tablets were coated by using different pH dependent polymers. Ethylcellulose, Eudragit RLPO and L100 were used as enteric coating polymers. The precompression blend of all formulations was subjected to various flow property tests and all the formulations were passed the tests. The tablets were coated by using polymers and the coated tablets were subjected to physical characterization, drug content, in vitro drug release and kinetics of drug release.
 Results: Among all the formulations, F4 formulation was found to be optimized as it was retarded the drug release up to 18 h and showed maximum of 99.25% drug release. It followed the first-order kinetics mechanism. All the formulations having Korsmeyer-Peppas ‘n’ values are in the range of 0.540 to 0.818. Hence, it was concluded that the prepared formulations followed non-Fickian diffusion.
 Conclusion: An effective and stable remelteon colon targeted formulation developed for treating insomnia.