Controlled Release Theophylline Tablet with Acrylic Polymers Prepared by Spray-Drying Technique in Aqueous System

Abstract
Sustained release and enteric theophylline tablets were prepared by directly compressing spray-dried microsphers with Eudragits L30D, L100-55 and E30D. The spray-drying process was free from using organic solvent. Drug dissolution of the enteric tablet in an acidic solution (pH 1.2) was highly dependent on the polymer content of the microsphere. Completely enteric function was observed with drug-to-polymer ratio of 1:3 using Eudragit L30D or L100-55. Tablet with Eudragit E30D formulated at the 2–40% level showed good sustained drug release which was throughly independent of the pH of dissolution media. The dissolution pattern was similar to that of Theo-dur and gave a straight line in Higuchi plot. In each tablet, the controlled drug release was attributed to continuous and well-dispersed polymer matrix formed by spray-drying and subsequent compressing process