Investigations of Plantago ovata husk Powder as a Disintegrating Agent for Development of Famotidine Tablets

The main objective of this study is to explore development of pharmaceutical excipients from the husk obtained from the seeds of Plantago ovata. Husk shows very good swelling property in water due to the major part of mucilage in it. Since swelling is one of the mechanisms of action of some tablet disintegrants, it is thought that the husk powder of Plantago ovata would be able to act as a tablet disintegrant. The powder obtained from the Plantago ovata husk was characterized for micromeritical properties, swelling capacity, hydration capacity, LOD, pH, particle size, foreign particles, ash value and microbial limit tests. Its disintegrant ability in comparison with maize starch was investigated by preparing famotidine tablets via the direct compression method. It was also compared with three marketed tablets of famotidine. The Plantago ovata husk powder, however, showed superior flow, swelling capacity as well as water retention capacity than maize starch. The tablets were characterized for hardness, friability, weight variation, in vitro disintegration study and in vitro dissolution study. The optimized batch F2C comprising of 10% of the Plantago ovata husk powder showed a 15 seconds disintegration time, which was significantly less than tablets prepared from maize starch as well as all three market preparations. Tablets from batch F2C were submitted for short term stability studies and exhibited stable characteristics.