111FORMULATION AND EVALUATION OF A GASTRO RETENTIVE DRUG DELIVERY SYSTEM OF A MODEL H2-BLOCKER FAMOTIDINEThe objective of this work to evaluate the effect of formulation variables on release properties, floating lag time and hardness in development of floating tablet containing Famotidine by statistical optimization technique. Formulations were prepared based on 32 factorial design with polymer ratio (HPMC 100 KM: Xanthan gum) and Amount of aerosil as two independent formulation variables. Four dependent (response) variables were considered: percentage drug release at 1st hr, T50% (time taken to release 50% of drug), Floating lag time and Hardness of the tablet. The release profile data was subjected to curve fitting analysis for describing the release mechanism of drug from floating tablet. The main effects and interaction terms was quantitatively evaluated by mathematical models. The increase in drug release was observed with an increase in the polymer ratio, and as the amount of aerosil increases the hardness of the tablet also increases with out affecting the floating lag time. The desirability function was used to optimize the response variables, each having a different target and the observed responses were agreeable with experimental values. The results demonstrate the feasibility of the model in the development of Floating tablet containing Famotidine. sowsow282@gmail.comResearch822018Famotidine, Floating tablet, Floating lag time, Aerosil, Hardness, 3 2 factorial design.Sowbhagyamma S,Umasankar K,Jayachandra Reddy PSowbhagyamma S,Umasankar K,Jayachandra Reddy P