Plantago ovata is an indigenous plant of Pakistan, India and several other European countries. The polysaccharides extracted from the husk of Plantago ovata have been chemically characterized to contain a high proportion of hemicellulose which comprises of arabinoxylan (AX). Plantago ovata seeds, husk and isolated mucilage have shown potential to be exploited as safe and effective drug carriers in pharmaceutical industry. In present investigation AX was isolated from Plantago ovata husk and was modified by carboxymethylation, graft copolymerization and salt formation using standard methods. Arabinoxylan and its modified forms were characterized physicochemically and by using techniques such as scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, x-ray diffraction and thermal analysis. Pharmaceutical applications of arabinoxylan and its modified forms were sought in different dosage forms such as suspension, tablet, gel, microsphere and hydrogel. Safety evaluation of arabinoxylan and modified arabinoxylan was done according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development guidelines. The antimicrobial assay of arabinoxylan and modified arabinoxylan was done by Kirby- Bauer disk diffusion method. Physicochemical and thermal investigation provided the evidence of suitability of these materials as pharmaceutical excipients in terms of compressibility, moisture sensitivity, flow properties and thermal stability. Arabinoxylan and carboxymethyl arabinoxylan even at low concentrations showed excellent suspending abilities comparable to commercially used suspending agents (acacia, tragacanth and bentonite) in both paracetamol and zinc oxide suspensions. As gelling agent, arabinoxylan showed thixotropic behaviour. pH and temperature dependent gelation was observed i.e. rapid gelation at basic pH and temperature 50-70°C. Arabinoxylan was found to be compatible with water, propylene glycol and 30% ethanol. Paracetamol and acelofenac gels were successfully formulated using arabinoxylan as gelling agent. In tablets, arabinoxylan showed binding and disintegrating properties. In microspheres, arbinoxylan showed release retardant properties along with sodium alginate. Hydrogels of arabinoxylans and carboxymethyl arabinoxylan were found to be successful for intestinal delivery of diclofenac sodium. Arabinoxylan sodium hydrogel was found to be thermally stable and compatible with drug. However, it failed to show sustained release properties. Safety evaluation studies confirmed good level of safety of polysaccharides (AX and modified AX). No dermal and ocular toxicity was reported and they were considered to be non mutagenic. Arabinoxylan and modified arabinoxylan showed antimicrobial potential. So it may be cleared from this study that arabinoxylan and modified arabinoxylans could be used as pharmaceutical excipients.