Preparation and evaluation of sustained-release azithromycin tablets in vitro and in vivo

Abstract

The objective of this study was to prepare azithromycin (AZI) sustained-release products in order to allow for a high dose to be administered, reduce gastrointestinal side-effects and increase the compliance of patients. AZI sustained-release tablets with different release performance (F-I: T100% = 3 h and F-II: T100% = 8 h in pH 6.0 phosphate buffer) were successfully prepared by wet granulation. The in vitro release rate and drug release mechanism were studied. The release rate of F-I was affected by dissolution media with different pH, but not for F-II. Hixson–Crowell model was the best regression fitting model for F-I and F-II. Additionally, F-I and F-II both belonged to non-Fick diffusion. Oral pharmacokinetics of the two tablets and one AZI dispersible tablet as reference were studied in six healthy beagle dogs after oral administration. Compared with the reference, the Cmax of F-I and F-II were decreased, and the Tmax were prolonged, in that case which meet the requirement of sustained-release tablets. The relative bioavailability of F-I and F-II were 79.12% and 64.09%. T-test of AUC0–144, and AUC0–∞ for F-I and F-II indicated there was no significant difference between F-I and F-II. These mean that the extended release rate did not induce different pharmacokinetics in vivo.