Mucoadhesive polymeric films comprising polyvinyl alcohol, polyvinylpyrrolidone, and poloxamer 407 for pharmaceutical applications

Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) have been extensively studied for their use in film formation. Poloxamer 407 (P407) is a block copolymer that has thermo-responsive and surfactant properties when used in pharmaceutical systems. These polymers are already used in liquid or semi-solid systems for ocular and parenteral drug delivery. However, the effect of P407 presence in solid pharmaceutical films composed of different PVA:PVP ratios have not been investigated yet. Therefore, this work investigated the influence of P407 added to the binary polymer mixture of PVA and PVP for the development of solid films aiming for pharmaceutical applications. The rheological properties of dispersions were investigated, and films were prepared by solvent casting method using different P407:PVA:PVP ratios according to a factorial design 2