A new model describing the swelling and drug release kinetics from hydroxypropyl methylcellulose tablets

A novel mathematical model for the water transport into and drug release from hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) tablets is presented. Fick's second law of diffusion is used to describe the mass transfer processes in the three-component system drug/polymer/water. Numerical solutions of the respective set of partial differential equations are provided, considering axial and radial diffusion within cylindrical tablets. It is shown that the diffusion coefficients strongly depend on the water concentration (parameters quantifying this dependence have been determined). Swelling of the device is considered using moving boundary conditions, whereas dissolution processes are neglected. Experiments proved the applicability of the theory. The practical benefit of the new model is to calculate the required shape and dimensions of HPMC tablets to achieve a desired release profile.