Formulation design and in-vitro evaluation of antipsychotic drug quetiapine fumarate

Abstract

Although the drug delivery system has been changing with time, the conventional tablet preparation is still dominating in dosage form preparation. Conventional tablet has more advantages than the other formulations such as low cost of manufacture, package, easier shipment, tamper proof and stablility for longer duration. Schizophrenia is a severe illness with substantial effects on individual and social functioning. First-line treatment in these patients is the use of atypical antipsychotics. The atypical antipsychotic Quetiapine was approved in 1997 by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and has been available since 2007. The treatment of schizophrenia has changed considerably with the introduction of atypical antipsychotics. Quetiapine is among the most widely used atypical antipsychotics, and along with clozapine has the least propensity to induce extrapyramidal motor symptoms. It is thought that the drug's therapeutic activity in schizophrenia is mediated through a combination of dopamine type 2 (D2) and serotonin type 2 (5HT2) receptorantagonisms.The main objective of this work is to develop a pharmaceutical equivalent, stable, robust immediate release tablet. The tablets were prepared by using wet granulation method with sodium starch glycolate and micro crystalline cellulose used intra and extra granularly. The dosage form was prepared and evaluated based on various parameters such as bulk, tapped density, sieve analysis, drug uniformity, disintegration and dissolution etc.