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Oral delivery of the drug is by far the most preferable route of drug delivery due to the ease of administration, patient compliance and flexibility in the formulations but has a drawback of non-site specificity and short gastric resident time. In order to overcome the drawbacks of conventional oral drug delivery systems, several technical advancements have led to the development of gastro retentive drug delivery system that could revolutionize method of medication and provide a number of therapeutic benefits. Gastroretentive drug delivery system is facing many challenges which can be overcome by upcoming newly emerging approach i.e. raft forming system. The present study provides valuable information & highlights advances in this raft forming system. This review attempts to discuss various factors like physiological factors, physicochemical factors and formulation factors to be considered in the development of the raft forming system, different types of smart polymers used for their formulation, mechanism, formulation and development of the raft forming system, studies to evaluate the performance and application of these systems.
Key words: Gastroretentive form, Raft forming system, Gastric residence time, Gastric emptying time.