Extended release of drugs is extremely essential for patients who require medicinal treatment round the clock. Depressed patients are one of such patients who suffer from recurrent and chronic disorder requiring long-term treatment. The treatment for such disease lies in the use of anti-depressants. Venlafaxine hydrochloride (VF) is an effective third generation drug which is capable of inhibiting the reuptake of serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine. This highly water soluble drug (534 mg/mL) has a short steady state elimination half-life of 4–5 h due to which this drug needs to be administrated 2 to 3 times in a day in order to maintain its required concentration in the blood plasma. The present study aimed at developing montmorillonite (Mt) alginate (ALG) biopolymeric composites as micro beads with 97% encapsulation efficiency for an oral extended release of VF.

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