Vaginal Pessaries For HIV Infected Women

Inexpensive and female – controlled pre – exposure prophylaxis strategies to prevent mucosal transmission of the virus, is urgently needed with the rising prevalence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV – 1 and HIV-2) infections in women. Zidovudine – loaded vaginal pessaries may become one of the potent weapons, as it can be used not only for controlled release but also for enhancing bioavailability. Drug delivery through vaginal pessary is a promising area for continued research with the aim of achieving controlled release in a slow and sustained manner over longer periods of time. The aim of the study was to develop a newer prolong releasing Zidovudine vaginal pessary to treat HIV infections in women with better patient convenience. Zidovudine loaded vaginal pessaries were successfully prepared by using hot process or fusion method.PF3 and PF6 formulations containing Ethyl Cellulose and Chitosan (1:4) were selected and evaluated in order to achieve the objectives of this study. On the basis of In Vitro studies PF3 and PF6 showed controlled drug release in a sustained manner by following Zero order kinetics and following Fickian (n?0.5) diffusion.