A Novel Approch : Pulsatile Drug Delivery System

Pulsatile drug delivery system (PDDS) is useful in the treatment of disease, in which drug availability is timed to match rhythms of disease, in order to optimize therapeutic effect and minimize side effects. PDDS have attracted attraction because of their multiple benefits over conventional dosage forms. The specific time that patients take their medication is very important as it has significant impact on success of treatment. If symptoms of a disease display circadian variation, drug release should also vary over time. Diseases wherein pulsatile drug delivery systems are promising include cardiovascular diseases, arthritis, asthma, cancer, hypercholesterolemia, duodenal ulcer, neurological disorders and diabetes. In pursuit of pulsatile release, various design strategies have been proposed, mainly including time controlling, stimuli induced, externally regulated and multiparticulate formulations. This review will cover methods that have been developed to control drug delivery profile with different polymeric systems like time controlling, internal stimuli induced (temperature induced and chemical stimuli-induced), and external induced (magnetic fields, ultrasound, electric fields and light stimulation) and multiparticulate system. Pulsatile drug delivery systems have the potential to bring new developments in the therapy of many diseases.