METHODS OF SOLUBILITY AND DISSOLUTION ENHANCEMENT FOR POORLY WATER SOLUBLE DRUGS: A REVIEW

Solubility and dissolution are the rate limiting factors to achieve their desired concentration in systemic circulation for pharmacological response especially poorly water soluble drugs. About 40 % of drugs discovered as noble compound can’t reach higher stage being poorly water soluble. Effectiveness of the drug can be severely insufficient by poor aqueous solubility and some drugs also show side effects due to their poor solubility. For formulation scientist, problem of solubility is a major challenge. For pharmaceutical product development several methods for poorly water soluble drugs are available to circumvent these. These methods are preferred on the basis of certain aspects such as properties of drug under consideration, nature of excipients to be selected, and nature of intended dosage form. Solid dispersion, Micronization, Salt formation, are some of the vital approaches routinely employed to enhance the solubility of poorly water soluble drugs but each approach has some limitation and advantages. Novel techniques like Nano-suspension, Supercritical processing, Cryogenic technology may allow greater opportunities in the delivery of poorly soluble drugs. The solubility behavior of drugs remains one of the most challenging aspects in formulation development. There are several methods are available for solubility and dissolution enhancement of poorly water soluble drugs. Various methods of solubility and dissolution enhancement for poorly water soluble drugs confer in this review.