Chronotropic drug delivery systems are drawing an increasing interest of the galvanic research in the field of
pharmaceuticals towards the development of more efficacious drug delivery systems for such diseases which pertains to a
well established oscillatory rhythm in their pathogenesis including hypertension, angina, asthma, cancer, arthritis, allergic
rhinitis, attention deficit syndrome, hypercholestremia, diabetes and many others. Currently, various approaches viz., single
unit, multiparticulate systems, electro-responsive pulsatile release, magnetically induced pulsatile release, systems with
different type of polymeric barrier coatings, stimuli sensitive etc. has been so far developed and characterized successfully.
Based on above approaches, recently novel formulations viz., PulsincapTM, TIMERx, CONTIN, OROS, CODAS,
DIFFUCAPS, CEFORM, etc. have also been envisaged by various researchers extensively. Pulsatile drug delivery systems
involve spatial and temporal release of the drug molecules after a predetermined lag time period. Sigmoid release profile can
be followed by these systems, which leads to maximisation of therapeutic effect and rapid drug release. The article on the
whole summarises the efficiency of such systems for diseases requiring safer, potential and holistic approaches respectively.
Key words: Circadian rhythm, Chronotherapy, Bioerodable systems, Pulsatile drug delivery, Electro-responsive system
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