Design and evaluation of dry-coated tablets for colonic delivery of diclofenac sodium

A colonic drug delivery system is required to protect a drug during its transit through the upper gastro-intestinal tract and allow its release in the colon. The aim of this study was the preparation of dry-coated tablets designed for colonic release of the model drug Diclofenac sodium (DS). The system consists of a drug-pectine (PC) mixture as the core and hydroxypropylmethylcellulose (HPMC) alone or mixed in different ratios with poly(ε-caprolactone) (CL) as the coat layer.