The Indian Pharmaceutical Association, Maharashtra State Branch (IPA-MSB) recently organized a lecture on 'Development of Oral Controlled Release Technology - TimeRx'. The lecture was delivered by Dr. Anand Baichwal, CSO & Sr. Vice-President Research & NTD, Penwest, New York, USA.

Dr. Anand Baichwal in his presentation spoke on the commercial aspects and feasibility of oral controlled release dosage forms. According to him, oral drug delivery system will dominate scenario in the post 2005 era and will cover more than 60% of the total range of drug delivery products. He attributed this to the advantages of oral route of drug delivery such as safety, economy and patient compliance.

Dr. Baichwal gave brief introduction of the business of Penwest Corporation in pharmaceutical excipients and of platform technologies mainly TimeRx. TimeRx is very simple and economical technology developed and is based on a sound theoretical principle. He discussed the components of TimeRX namely hydrogel gums such as xanthan gum and locust bean gum along with a water-soluble carbohydrate such as dextrose or maltose and their role in tailoring release profile of the drugs. He narrated formulations containing TimeRX, such as the granules can be coated with various retarding or enter soluble polymers with pH-dependent solubility to manipulate the release profile of the drug. He explained that this platform technology is suitable for both highly water-soluble and poorly water-soluble drugs.

Dr. H.P. Tipnis started the programme and the lecture was well attended by participants from academia and industry.