DISCOIDAL NIOSOME BASED CONTROLLED OCULAR DELIVERY OF TIMOLOL MALEATE

Non-ionic surface active agents based discoidal vesicles (discomes) be aring timolol maleate were prepared. Niosomes were incorporated with S olulan C24 in order to effect vesicle to discome transition. The disco mes were relatively large in size, 12-60 mu m. They were found to entr ap a relatively high quantity of timolol maleate. The prepared system were characterized for size, shape and drug release profile in vitro. They were found to release the contents following a biphasic profile p articularly in the case where the drug was loaded using a pH gradient technique. The prepared system could produce or sustain a suitable act ivity profile upon administration into the ocular cavity; however, sys temic absorption was minimized to a negliable level. The discomes were found to be promising and of potential for controlled ocular administ ration of water soluble drugs.