APPROACHES TO DEVELOPMENT OF SOLID - SELF MICRON EMULSIFYING DRUG DELIVERY SYSTEM: FORMULATION TECHNIQUES AND DOSAGE FORMS: A REVIEW

Solubility is one of the most important parameter to achieve desired concentration of drug in systemic circulation for therapeutic response. As a consequence of modern drug discovery techniques, there has been a steady increase in the number of new pharmacologically active lipophilic compounds that are poorly water soluble. It is a great challenge for pharmaceutical scientist to convert those molecules into orally administered formulation with sufficient bioavailability. Among the several approaches to improve oral bioavailability of these molecules, Self- micron emulsifying drug delivery system (SMEDDS) is one of the approaches usually used to improve the bioavailability of hydrophobic drugs. However, Conventional SMEDDS are mostly prepared in a liquid form, which can have some disadvantages. Accordingly, solid SMEDDS (S-SMEDDS) prepared by solidification of liquid/semisolid self-micron emulsifying (SME) ingredients into powders, have gained popularity. This article gives an overview of the recent advancements in S-SMEDDS such as development methods and the future research directions.