Role Of Polymers In Sustained Released Microbeads Formulation: A Review

The aim of this article is to provide a wide-angle prospect of the detailed information of pharmaceutical polymers in sustained released micro-beads dosage forms. Polymers have played an integral role in the advanced drug delivery technology by providing controlled release of therapeutic agents in constant doses over long periods, cyclic dosage, and constant release of both hydrophilic and hydrophobic drugs. When formulating challenging molecules into solid oral dosage forms, polymeric pharmaceutical excipients permit masking undesired physicochemical properties of drugs and, consequently, altering their pharmacokinetic profiles to improve the therapeutic effect. The number of synthetic and natural polymers available commercially as pharmaceutical recipients have increased dramatically, offering potential solutions to various difficulties. The different polymers may allow increased solubility, swell ability, viscosity, biodegradability, advanced coatings, pH dependency, mucodhesion, and inhibition of crystallization. Biodegradable polymers attract the attention of its use as they can be degraded to non-toxic monomers and most important, a constant rate of drug release can be achieved from a biodegradable polymer-based controlled release device. Natural polymers can be used as the means of achieving predetermined rates of drug delivery, and their physicochemical characteristics with the ease of availability provide a platform to use it as a polymer for drug delivery systems. The main role of polymer is to protect the drug from the physiological environment and prolong release of drug to improve its stability. The objective of this review is to summarize the applications of the different polymers and its derivatives and also to elaborate the importance of polymers in the pharmaceutical field.