Published Paper Details:

Polymers are macromolecules which are composed of structurally similar repeated units of monomers. Natural polymers are the ones that are obtained from natural origins like plants, animals or micro-organisms. Natural polymers are widely used in pharmaceutical and biomedical industries and their applications are growing at a fast pace as the basic knowledge of polymers helps us to know the function of drug products and also to develop new formulations or better delivery systems. Natural polymers are more advantageous than synthetic polymers as they are economical, non-toxic and abundantly available in nature. Natural polymers can be used to formulate dosage forms where the drug is designed to release a pre-deteremined rate. They can be widely used in pharmaceutical dosage forms as binders, matrix formers or drug release modifiers, film coating formers, thickeners or viscosity enhancers, stabilizers, disintegrants, solubilisers, emulsifiers, suspending agents, gelling agents and bioadhesives. In this article, source, purification, properties, pharmaceutical applications of such natural polymers have been discussed.