Acta Poloniae Pharmaceutica ñ Drug Research, Vol. 69 No. 2 pp. 285ñ290, 2012 ISSN 0001-6837 Polish Pharmaceutical Society Hypertension is the most dominating disease of todayís fast life. The style of living full of tension and high cholesterol diets increases the risk of hypertension and cardiac disorders like myocardial infarction. Atenolol is a β-blocker which can lower the blood pressure by increasing the cardiac output and simvastatin is 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl- coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase inhibitor that can, on the one side, lower the peripheral resistance and, on the other side, save patient from cardiac risks. Its GIT adverse effects are abdominal cramps, constipation, diarrhea, flatulence, heartburn, altered taste, dyspepsia and nausea. Atenolol blocks stimu- lation of β 1 (myocardial)-adrenergic receptors and does not usually affect β 2 (pulmonary, vascular, uterine) receptor sites. It decreases blood pressure, heart rate and frequency of attacks of angina pec- toris (1). Granulation is a technique that is used to entrap drugs for multiple reasons that include the instabili- ty of drug in acid medium, GIT disturbances etc. However, stability and biological activity of the drug should not be affected during granulation. Product yield and drug encapsulation efficiency should be high and drug release profile should be reproducible in specific limits (2). Ethylcellulose (EC) is a biodegradable polymer that can be used for the entrapment of many harmless drugs for oral use (3). EC is preferably used as it can easily bear the transport shocks. Literature studies revealed that there is no sin- gle dosage form contained both the drugs for treat- ment of hypertension. These two drugs are mostly prescribed in combination so the purpose of this novel study was to formulate a combined dosage form having both drugs with extended release behavior. Non-solvent addition technique of granu- lation was used. The prepared granules were charac- terized in different ways. Release behavior was evaluated using different kinetic models. Moreover, solvent used, i.e., toluene, is a class II solvent so its complete removal from drug delivery system is nec- essary. A further study for its complete removal and evaluation using high performance liquid chro- matography and gas chromatography is in progress in our lab. PHARMACEUTICAL TECHNOLOGY A NOVEL GRANULATION NON-SOLVENT ADDITION METHOD CONTAINING HYDROPHILIC AND LIPOPHILIC DRUGS MAHMOOD AHMAD 1 , GHULAM MURTAZA 2 *, FATIMA NASIM 1 , REHMANA RASHEED 3 , SHU- JAAT A. KHAN 1 , MUHAMMAD N. AAMIR 1 and FATIMA RASOOL 1 1 Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy & Alternative Medicine, the Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Bahawalpur, Pakistan 2 Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Abbottabad, Pakistan 3 Department of Pharmacy, the University of Faisalabad, Faisalabad, Pakistan Abstract: Atenolol and simvastatin were granulated in combination by non-solvent addition coacervation method to treat hypertension orally. Dissolution test was performed in water containing 0.5% sodium dodecyl sulfate at 37 ± 0.05 O C. FTIR spectrometry, X-ray diffractometry and thermal analysis confirmed the absence of any chemical interaction between polymer and the entrapped drugs. The granules size was about 280ñ619 μm. Scanning electron microscopy reported irregular morphology of granules. The entrapment efficiency was approximately 90% for atenolol and 70% for simvastatin. A controlled release behavior of both drugs but a burst release phenomenon of simvastatin from the formulations were observed. In conclusion, granules loaded with a hydrophilic and a lipophilic drug were successfully prepared. Keywords: atenolol, ethylcellulose, hypertension, granulation, simvastatin 285 * Corresponding author: e-mail: gmdogar356@gmail.com; mobile: 923142082826; fax: 92992383441