EFFECT OF BLOCK COPOLYMERS ON THE DISSOLUTION OF SOME WATER-INSOLUBLE DRUGS: 1. NIFEDIPINE-PLURONIC F-127 SOLID DISPERSION SYSTEM

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Department of Pharmaceutics, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

The effect of pluronic F-127, a block copolymer, on enhancing the dissolution rate of water-insoluble drugs was studied. Solid dispersions of nifedipine, a model water-insoluble drug, with pluronic F-127 and PVP at different drug : polymer ratios were prepared using the solvent-evaporation method. The dissolution profiles of solid dispersion samples in distilled water at 37°C were compared to those using physical mixtures of the same composition.
The results showed that solid dispersion technique using both PVP and pluronic F-127 dramatically increased the dissolution rate of nifedipine.
X-ray and differential scanning calorometric (DSC) studies were performed on different samples in order to elucidate mechanism(s) of the dissolution enhancement effect exerted by both polymers. It was concluded that the increase in dissolution rate of nifedipine from the solid dispersion is due to the lack of the drug crystallinity in these formulations. This improvement in the drug release rate can lead to an improvement in its bioavailability.

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