Fabio Carli

Characterization of Drug Loading into Swellable Polymers by Surface Analysis

Swellable polymers can be used in the pharmaceutical dosage forms either to control the release process or to improve the solubility and the dissolution rate of slightly soluble drugs. In the former case slowly swellable polymers are used, such as crosslinked polyvinyl alcohol 1 ,ethylene/vinylacetate copolymers 2 , crosslinked hydroxyethyl-metacrylate 3 ; the swelling mechanism of these polymers largely influences the drug release process 4 . In the later case, polymers with a high swelling rate are used, such as crosslinked polyvinyl pyrrolidone5–7, crosslinked casein and crosslinked sodium carboxymethylcellulose 8 .