Preparation and Evaluation of Emulgel as Topical Drug Delivery for Nimesulide by Using Conventional Emulsion

Abstract

Topical drug administration is a mean by which various types of dosage forms such as ointments, creams, gels and emulgels are applied at a specific site of the body such as skin, ophthalmic, vagina and various parts of gastrointestinal tract togive either local or systemic effect. Nimesulide is non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) which has good anti-inflammatory, analgesic and antipyretic activity. In this study, eight formulations of nimesulide emulgel containing conventional emulsion were prepared to investigate the effects of different variables on the physical appearance, pH, spreadability, viscosity and in vitro drug release. These variables are the type of oil phase of the emulsion (olive and coconut oil), type and concentration of emulsifying agent (span 80 and tween 80), type of gelling agent (carbopol934 and HPMCK15M), preservative and penetration enhancer.The results revealed that (F4) which consist of 2.5% HPMCK15M, 4% (combination of span80 and tween80), 8% coconut oil and 1% nimesulide was an optimum formulation, since it shows maximum drug release after 7 hrs in addition to excellent physical appearance.