The objective of the present work was to develop once daily matrix tablets of water soluble drug diltiazem hydrochloride using natural polymers and gums like tamarind xyloglucan, gellan gum and sodium carboxymethyl cellulose, either alone or in combinations. Tablets were prepared by wet granulation method and evaluated for various physical parameters. Tamarind xyloglucan with gellan gum and sodium carboxymethyl cellulose sustained the drug release effectively for 24 hrs. All the formulations followed first order kinetics. The release co-efficient values ‘n’ (>0.5) indicated that the drug release followed non fickian anomalous mechanism based on formulation factors. Release profile of formulation T2 and TS1 were comparable with the marketed product which is supported by the model independent parameters like MDT of 6.84 and 8.47 hrs, the dissolution efficiency of 56.01 and 50.61 in 8 hrs and the t 90% values were 18.96 and 20.28 hrs respectively. The results have shown that the tablets can be useful as once daily formulations.
