Sustained release tablets of antihypertensive drugs: A review

Abstract

Hypertension is a chronic cardiovascular disorder that requires long-term and consistent pharmacotherapy to prevent serious complications such as stroke, myocardial infarction, heart failure, and renal damage. Conventional immediate-release antihypertensive dosage forms often require multiple daily administrations, resulting in fluctuating plasma drug concentrations, increased incidence of dose-related adverse effects, and poor patient compliance. Sustained release (SR) tablets have emerged as an effective strategy to overcome these limitations by providing controlled and prolonged drug delivery over an extended period.

Sustained release tablets are designed to maintain therapeutic plasma drug levels, minimize peak–trough fluctuations, and reduce dosing frequency, thereby improving patient adherence and overall therapeutic efficacy. Antihypertensive drugs are particularly suitable for sustained release systems due to the chronic nature of hypertension and the need for continuous blood pressure control. Several classes of antihypertensive agents, including beta-blockers, calcium channel blockers, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, angiotensin receptor blockers, and centrally acting agents, have been successfully formulated into sustained release dosage forms.

This review provides a comprehensive overview of sustained release tablets of antihypertensive drugs, highlighting the rationale for sustained drug delivery, ideal drug candidates, formulation approaches, polymers used, mechanisms of drug release, evaluation parameters, and kinetic modeling. The advantages, limitations, recent advances, and future prospects of sustained release antihypertensive formulations are also discussed. Sustained release tablet technology represents a significant advancement in the management of hypertension by improving patient compliance, enhancing therapeutic outcomes, and reducing cardiovascular risk.