Jumat, Oktober 31, 2008

My thesis

In June 2007 I had finished my postgraduate program at School of Pharmacy, Bandung Institute of Technology. Here is the abstract of my thesis:

ABSTRACT

ACYCLOVIR FLOATING TABLET:
FORMULATION AND IN VITRO EVALUATION

MARWATI
NIM: 20705001


Acyclovir is an antiviral agent widely used for the treatment of herpes simplex and varizella zoster. It is soluble only at acidic pH (pKa 2,27) and has a limited absorption in the gastrointestinal tract. Acyclovir is absorbed only in the upper part of the small intestine (duodenum and jejunum). Its elimination half life is about 2.9 hours and its oral bioavailability is low, 20% in average. Due to those behavior the recommended oral dosage of acyclovir immediate release is 200 or 400 mg every 5-6 hours.

The floating gastroretentive drug delivery system can be retained in the stomach and assists in improving delivery of drugs that have a limited absorption in the gastrointestinal regions. This system helps in continuously releasing drugs before it reaches the absorption region, over prolonged time period. Thus it will increase the oral bioavailability and decrease the dosage frequency. The aim of this study was to develop a floating, gastroretentive tablet of acyclovir.

The acyclovir floating tablet was made using wet granulation method. Three kinds of hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) K-grade namely K4M, K15M and K100M alone or in combination was used as controlled release and floating agent, while sodium bicarbonate was incorporated as gas-generating agent to minimize the floating lag time.

The floating tablet was evaluated for floating behavior and in vitro dissolution profile. The floating behavior was carried out in 50 ml of 0.1 N hydrochloric acid. The in vitro dissolution was carried according to USP 28 requirement for acyclovir immediate release tablet, for 12 hours.

All formulation tested possessed floating lag time less than one minute and remained
floatable throughout the dissolution studies. The best formulation was chosen based on the highest value of similarity factor (f2) compared to acyclovir zero order release profile and the highest value of cummulative percentage of acyclovir released after 12 hours. The linearity of dissolution profile was also be considered. The best formulation obtained from this research contained 400 mg acyclovir, 60 mg HPMC K4M, 50 mg sodium bicarbonate, 2% w/w talc and 0.5% w/w magnesium stearate in each tablet. This formulation released 85,35 (+/-) 0,62 % of acyclovir in 12 hours, while the floating lag time was less than one minute and the tablet remained floatable throughout the dissolution studies. The release kinetics of acyclovir from the floating system formulated in this study close to the Hixson-Crowel Model.

Keywords: acyclovir, floating tablet, in vitro dissolution

Rabu, Oktober 22, 2008

When the End’s Come

It was in November 2007. My daughter, Lia, (after having dinner) was studying in her room when her handphone rang. I could’t hear clearly what she was talking about with her friend. I just found she was very sad after that. ‘Mommy, this afternoon, I and Wisnu sat side by side at the course class, he still talked about manything. But this time (about 9 pm) he just laid there, in his house, breathless. He got accident this evening, his motorcycle was hit by a truck, he passed away at about 7 pm…’. Wisnu, was her schoolmate, I never saw him before. Bad and sad news often made me speechless for a while, and sometimes shocked me too. The news Lia told me made me sad too. 17 years old boy seemed too young to die. Just like my children, Wisnu set up to school early in the morning. All of the day my children had activities out there, we couldn’t guard them all day long. In the evening, my children one by one came home. When the it began to dark I phoned them to check their position. When they all had come home, I felt complete. I was not Wisnu’s mother but I could feel the very lost feeling that his mother felt right now. Just like me, she might be say good bye to his son at the fence in the morning, but in the evening only his breathless body came. I was too scare to imagine the situation. After speechless for a moment, I said to Lia ’See honey, once again, when the end will come is always a mystery for us. We do believe there is a life after death, at that time all of we have to represent the journey of life we had, and God will score us. So, always do good things and never forget God who always keep us in his arms. Go sholat now, say thanks He still give us chances to prepare our after death future life, and pray that He will be merciful to Wisnu too’. It’s almost a year later, as I write this I pray that Wisnu’s mother have more strength to continue her life without her loving son, Wisnu.

Selasa, Oktober 21, 2008

The Power of Pray

I do believe in the power of pray. When I was about 20-21, I adored a cute, smart boy in my campuss. We were not in the same program, but we often meet in many activities in campuss. For 3 years I declared him as my idol (read :in Indonesian as #gébétan’#). 3 years passed, I began to be tired with this relationship. I adored him so much but he treated me as a junior or just a friend, When I told my sister about this, she advised me to do ‘shalat istikharah’ that was to pray and ask God to lead me to a best choice. I did ‘shalat istikharah’ for a week. A few days after that, my idol treated me nicer, and we become closer. But that only happened a week. The next week he seemed to be lost in the very bottom of the earth. Surprisingly I accidentally met Herlan (my husband to be, was my school friend in junior and high school and also in the same campuss at ITB) in many occasions. We had many good times together. One day I had to buy book at Palasari, and I need a friend to accompany me. One second after that Herlan came over and escorted me to Palasari. Another day in Jakarta I was afraid to return alone to Bandung by the last train (at 7pm), but at the last minutes before the train set up, there he came, surprised to see me at Gambir train station. He had visited his sister and wanted to return to Bandung by the last train too. He accompanied and escorted me to my rent house. In many occasions he seemed to be my savior. At that moment I thought that God didn’t answer my pray for I missed my idol. And still I don’t realize that He was sending me the best choice I asked. When I and Herlan became closer and started to plan our life together, I do realized that God answer my pray. Do you believe in the power of pray?

Senin, Oktober 20, 2008

My Daughter in Love

This story happened in 2001. My daughter Lia was 11, and his brother, Akbar, was 8. One noon, we were having lunch.
Lia : Bar, what will you do if you meet the girl you like so much?
Akbar: Nothing…
Lia : Nothing?
Akbar: Yeaa nothing, maybe look at her, that’s all
Lia : My god, look at her? I just can’t do that. Every time I meet the boy
I like so much, I can’t face him…
Akbar: Why not?
Lia : I just can’t.
Akbar: Does he make you scare?
Lia : No, not like that
Akbar: So why? If you can’t, so don’t face him
Lia : I want to face him but….
Akbar: I don’t understand you, mommy do you understand her?
Mommy:…(speechless, but smiled….)….