Dissolution Enhancement of Drugs. Part II: Effect of Carriers

Recent high throughput screening and combinatorial and parallel synthesis are increasing the number of drug molecules which are highly lipophilic. The oral route is the most preferred route of drug administration due to its convenience, good patient compliance and low medicine production costs. The challenges to formulation scientists have tremendously increased due to the pressure of formulating these lipophilic drugs into oral drug delivery systems. Reports in patent and scientific literature are also increasing day by day which shows the interest of industrial and academic research in dissolution enhancement of poorly water soluble drugs. Part I [Int J Health Res, Jun 2009; 2(2):107-124] of this review was a technological overview on various dissolution enhancement techniques for poorly water soluble drugs and role of few water soluble carriers, viz. polymers, superdisintegrants and surfactants, in dissolution enhancement. This part describes the use of cyclodextrin, carbohydrates, hydrotropes, polyglocolized glycerides, dendrimers, acids and miscellaneous carriers in enhancing dissolution of drugs.