Gelucires : Pharmaceutical Applications

The major problems affecting design of any dosage form are related with the solubility and stability of drug substances. And hence to solve these problems carriers like polyethylene glycol (PEG), polyvinyl pyrollidone (PVP), poloxamers, polyols, organic acid and hydrotropes helping the dissolution enhancement of poorly soluble drugs are used.1 But now a days new type of excipients which are polyethylene glycol glycerides composed of mono-, di- and triglycerides and mono- and diesters of polyethylene glycol (PEG) called as gelucire are used. They are a group of inert semi-solid waxy amphiphilic excipients, which are surface active in nature and disperse or solubilize in aqueous media forming micelles, microscopic globules or vesicles. They have been widely studied as controlled release matrices as well as for improvement of physicochemical properties of drug. They are identified with respect to their melting point and HLB value 2.