The present investigation concerns the development of mucoadhesive tablets of Clarithromycin which were designed to prolong the gastric residence time after oral administration. Matrix tablets of Clarithromycin were formulated using four mucoadhesive polymers namely Carbopol 974P, HPMC K15M and HPMC K4M carried out studies for weight variation, thickness, hardness, content uniformity, swelling index, mucoadhesive force and in vitro drug release. Formulation of F9 and F12 which were formulated by using polymers, HPMC K14M, HPMC K15M and Carbopol 974P provided controlled release of Clarithromycin over the period of 12 hrs. The cumulative % of drug release of formulation F9 and F12 were 93.16 and 96.82 respectively. Invitro releases of F1 to F12 were found to be diffusion controlled and followed zero order kinetics. Formulation of F9 and F12 which were formulated by using polymers HPMC K4M, HPMC K15M and Carbopol 974P were established to be the optimum formulation with optimum bioadhesive force, swelling index & desired invitro drug release. Further investigations are needed to confirm the in vivo efficiency, long term stability studies are needed to stabilize the controlled released (F9 and F12) formulations.
