the pharmaceutical composition according to the invention is for gliclazide oral administration . preferably , the cellulose derivatives are selected from the group consisting of hydroxymethyl cellulose , hydroxyethyl cellulose , hydroxypropyl cellulose and hydroxypropylmethyl cellulose ( hpmc ). the mixture of cellulose derivatives , according to the invention , preferably has a total viscosity between 6000 and 21000 cps . preferably , the mixture of cellulose derivatives is consisting of three hpmc of which : one hpmc having viscosity higher than 50000 cps , one hpmc having viscosity of between 2000 and 50000 cps , and one hpmc having viscosity lower than 100 cps . one hpmc having viscosity higher than 70000 cps , one hpmc having viscosity of between 3000 and 30000 cps , and one hpmc having viscosity lower than 50 cps . more preferably , the three hpmc are selected from hpmc 5 cps , hpmc 4000 cps , hpmc 15000 cps , and hpmc 100000 cps . the composition has an active ingredient content between 15 % and 20 % w / w with respect to the total of the composition , wherein the release is controlled by the polymer matrix consisting of the mixture of cellulose derivatives , preferably hpmc , mixed together in order to obtain a porous matrix and fast hydration . as preferred embodiment , this was obtained by mixing two high or medium viscosity hpmc with a low viscosity hpmc in percentages ranging between 20 and 40 % w / w with respect to the total weight of the formulation , more preferably 30 % w / w of the finished tablet . preferably , the low viscosity hpmc is present in amounts ranging between 7 % w / w and 15 % w / w with respect to the total of the formulation . surprisingly , it has been found that the presence of low viscosity hpmc associated with high viscosity hpmc leads to a higher initial hydration of the matrix resulting in a slower early hours release kinetics than the combination of only two hpmc with a viscosity higher than 4000 cps . surprisingly , the addition of low viscosity hpmc to a mixture of two medium and / or high viscosity hpmc increases the hydration of the system carrying a synergistic action with other soluble excipients present in the formulation . this effect slows down the release in the first 4 h , after which the release is controlled by the presence of the other two more viscous hpmc . the absence of calcium phosphate dibasic does not affect the release . the presence of water - soluble diluents , between 40 and 60 % w / w with respect to the total weight of the composition ( more preferably 50 %), leads to a further increase of the canalization and , therefore , the hydration of the matrix . preferably said water - soluble diluents are selected from the group consisting of polyalcohols and mixtures thereof ; in particular mannitol , maltodextrin , sorbitol , isomalt , and mixtures thereof . surprisingly , at ph 6 . 8 , a release identical to the one of the leading product has been obtained without any addition of calcium phosphate dibasic to the composition , and using excipients all soluble . in addition to the active ingredient , the polymers and the soluble diluents , in the formulation also a glidant and a lubricant may be included , in order to improve the workability . said glidant is preferably chosen from the group consisting of magnesium stearate , sodium stearyl fumarate , stearic acid , or other suitable glidants , or mixture thereof . said lubricant is preferably chosen from the group consisting of anhydrous colloidal silica , or other suitable lubricants , or mixture thereof . if present , glidant and lubricant percentages are not exceeding 1 % w / w with respect to the total of the composition . in a preferred manner , the composition object of the present invention has the following % w / w composition with respect to the total of the composition : in a particularly preferred manner , the composition object of the present invention has the following % w / w composition with respect to the total of the composition : the composition subject - matter of the present invention is preferably in the form of tablets obtained by direct compression or by induction granulation . in a particularly preferred embodiment , the invention relates to 60 mg gliclazide tablets , said tablets being divisible into two or more dosing fractions . it has been observed that tablets divided into two half - doses show , in turn , a different release profile to the whole tablet but , surprisingly , comparable to the kinetics of other 30 mg gliclazide formulations known in the art ( see ep2103302 ). preferably , the composition object of the present invention may be prepared by mixing gliclazide to the mixture of cellulose derivatives in order to obtain a mixture to which the water - soluble diluents and finally the glidant and the lubricant are added . the tablets production method may be a direct compression of the mixture of all components described above . in particular , in a preferred embodiment of the invention , the tablets are oblong in shape and equipped with a fracture line to facilitate the divisibility in half . fig1 shows the dissolution profile of the tablets according to the invention : full dose ( 60 mg ) and half dose ( 30 mg ). fig2 shows the dissolution profile of the tablets according to the invention in comparison to a reference tablets known in the art . the percentages of the components used in the formulation are shown in the following table : gliclazide is added into a high speed granulator together with the three hpmc in order to incorporate in an optimal manner the active ingredient into the polymers that will form the matrix . to this mixture , always into the granulator , mannitol and maltodextrin , which will act as diluents and channeling agents , are added . finally , sieved anhydrous colloidal silica and magnesium stearate are added into the bin . the mixture obtained is then compressed by means of a rotary tablet press fitted with oblong punches with a fracture line . the releases of the tablets obtained with this method are given below . comparison of dissolution profiles of half dose of 60 mg gliclazide according to the invention vs . full dose of 60 mg gliclazide according to the invention : the similarity factor or f2 is calculated using the following formula : f 2 = 50 · log {[ 1 +( 1 / n · σ ( r t − t t ) 2 ] − 0 . 5 · 100 } n = number of sampling times r t = dissolution value of the reference sample at time t t t = dissolution value of the sample under test at time t as it can be seen from the tables , the releases of the full dose and of the half dose are not comparable to each other since the similarity factor ( f2 ) is lower than 50 . however , the half dose and full dose taken individually show releases that are comparable to those of the reference products such as diamicron ®, 30 mg and 60 mg respectively . comparison of dissolution profiles of 60 mg gliclazide leading product of reference ( diamicron ®) vs . 60 mg gliclazide valpharma per tablet : reference sample : 60 mg gliclazide per tablet leading product of reference diamicron ® manufactured by laboratoires servier , batch no . : 889195 sample according to the invention : gliclazide 60 mg per tablet , batch no . : 0000040851 the analysis performed at different phs show that the releases of this formulation are ph - dependent , in fact , at ph 4 . 5 and in water , releases that are very different from the ones at ph 6 . 8 are obtained . ( see table below )
sustained - release gliclazide tablets devoid of calcium phosphate dibasic , and containing only soluble excipients . the mixing of two high viscosity hpmc with a low viscosity one allows to obtain releases similar to those of the reference products on the market , and it shows also a certain ph dependence .