Novel chewable tablet-in-tablet dosage form of Orlistat and Venlafaxine hydrochloride: development and evaluation

Obesity is a chronic pathological condition characterized by an increased body fat accumulation to the extent that it may have an adverse effect on the health. Depression is the most common co-morbidity of obesity, which may cause the Binge Eating Disorder (BED), leading to morbid obesity. In the present project a dispersible 60mg Orlistat (ORST) and β-cyclodextrin (β-CD), (1:2M) complexed core tablet is press coated with the taste masked 75mg Venlafaxine Hcl. (VLFXN) microparticles, prepared with Eudragit EPO (1:3), by emulsification solvent evaporation method, to obtain the chewable tablet-in-tablet dosage form. A Reverse phase (RP)-HPLC method was developed for the simultaneous estimation of ORST and VLFXN in the formulation. The optimized formulation was palatable and there was no drug excipients interaction which was confirmed by IR Spectrum. Press coated, tablet-in-tablets were evaluated for physicochemical properties. All the values obtained were within the standard limits. And in the in-vitro dissolution study the release of both drugs, ORST and VLFXN at the end of 15mins was found to be 86% and 92% respectively. Hence, the developed chewable tablet-in-tablet formulation of ORST and VLFXN can be a viable drug delivery system for treating patients with obesity and BED.