COMPARATIVE STUDY OF DIFFERENT APPROACHES USED FOR SOLUBILITY ENHANCEMENT OF POORLY WATER SOLUBLE DRUGS

Albendazole, a benzimidazole derivative with broad spectrum of activity against human and animal helminth parasites, has very low oral bioavailability as it is a poorly soluble drug. The aim of this work was to improve the solubility of albendazole by using solvent evaporation method, with certain hydrophilic polymers such as polyvinyl pyrrolidone, mannitol, polyethylene glycol and by using hydrotropic solublization method with urea, sodium citrate and sodium benzoate as excipients. Solid dispersion as a dosage form has been established a superior option for the drugs having poor aqueous solubility while hydrotropy is one of the important solubility enhancement techniques that can be used to enhance solubilisation of poorly water soluble drugs in folds by using various hydrotropic agents. Mean saturated solubility of pure drug was found to be 0.31 µg/ml. Solid dispersion prepared with polyvinyl pyrrolidone had shown maximum solubility enhancement with solubility of 48.21 µg/ml as compare to polyethylene glycol and mannitol. While sodium citrate as hydrotropic agent had shown maximum solubility enhancement with solubility of 18.34 µg/ml as compare to urea and sodium benzoate. So the study concluded that formulating solid dispersion is better than hydrotropic solubilization method for solubility enhancement of drugs. Keywords : Solubility enhancement, Solid dispersion, Hydrotropy, Albendazole, Solvent evaporation.