DISSOLUTION KINETIC OF MELOXICAM FROM HYDROPHILIC MATRIX-TYPE FILMS FOR TRANSDERMAL THERAPY

Taking into consideration the fact the transdermal administration of the active pharmaceutical ingredients can represent a therapeutic approach that increases the patient's compliance, this study aims to evaluate the release of meloxicam (MX), a potent non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, incorporated in hydrophilic polymer-based matrices for transdermal therapeutic systems was studied. Three different formulations were realized by solvent casting method containing two types of hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMCE5 with low viscosity and HPMC15000 with high viscosity) whose concentration was also varied. The drug release test was performed by Franz diffusion cell and the dissolution curves were analysed from a kinetical point of view by model dependent and model independent methods. Linearization by simple regression allowed the flux calculations of values that varied between 0.183 and 32.270 mu g/(cm(2)h). Based on the results obtained with the mathematical analysis, we can conclude that the MX release is influenced by the pH of the dissolution media and by the type and concentration of the matrix forming agent. Discrimination of model dependent mathematical models was done by the Akaike index with values between 49 and -62. The kinetic analysis of the MX releasing curves from the proposed formulations showed that Korsmeyer-Peppas was more suitable for the release characterisation of the active pharmaceutical ingredient from the transdermal therapeutic systems analysed.