Drug release modeled by dissolution, diffusion, and immobilization

This article presents a novel drug release model that combines drug dissolution, diffusion, and immobilization caused by adsorption of the drug to the tablet constituents. Drug dissolution is described by the well-known Noyes-Whitney equation and drug adsorption by a Langmuir-Freundlich adsorption isotherm, and these two processes are included as source and sink terms in the diffusion equation. The model is applicable to tablets that disintegrate into a number of approximately spherical fragments. In order to simplify the analysis it is assumed that liquid absorption, matrix swelling, and tablet disintegration are much faster than drug dissolution and subsequent drug release. The resulting model is shown to yield release characteristics in good agreement with those observed experimentally. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.