Osmotic pumps in drug delivery.

In recent years, novel drug delivery systems (NDDS) have been recognized as an attractive niche for the pharmaceutical and health industry. Among various NDDS, osmotic pumps have matured from their use with laboratory animals to the most reliable controlled release systems for humans. Osmotically controlled drug delivery systems use osmotic pressure for controlled delivery of active agent(s). Drug delivery from these systems, to a large extent, is independent of the physiological factors of the gastrointestinal tract. Because of their unique advantages over other types of dosage forms, osmotic pumps form a class of their own among the various drug delivery technologies, and a variety of products based on this technology are available on the market. This article is a review of different types of osmotic pumps and their role in drug delivery.