Gastric retention for cardiovascular therapy: matching drug properties, dosage-form design, and translational evidence.

Gastroretentive delivery offers a selective strategy for cardiovascular drugs the performance of which depends on upper-gastrointestinal (GI) residence, sustained or modified exposure, or timed release. In this review, I synthesize the rationale, candidate drugs, platform-selection logic, and translational evidence for gastroretentive cardiovascular systems. Particularly strong cases involve narrow absorption windows, poor lower-GI absorption, pH-dependent solubility or instability, low or variable bioavailability, distal-GI efflux, and circadian cardiovascular risk. I proposes a drug-first framework linking biopharmaceutical constraints to floating, adhesive, multiparticulate, layered, pulsatile, and architecture-driven technologies. Strong translational claims require imaging-confirmed residence, comparative pharmacokinetics (PK), food-effect assessment, and cardiovascular outcomes rather than in vitro buoyancy metrics alone.