Preparation of self micro emulsifying drug delivery system(smedds) of poorly soluble drug eprosartan mesylate and its in vitro evaluation

Abstract

Eprosartan Mesylate (EM), an angiotensin II receptor blocker used in the treatment of high blood pressure. But poor solubility and bioavailability (13%) of eprosartan mesylate is a major challenging factor for improving its drug release rate. The main objective of the present work to develop and characterize self micro emulsifying drug delivery system of eprosartan mesylate by using compatible oil, surfactant and co-surfactant. For the selection of oil, surfactant and cosurfactant, solubility screening studies has been carried out. The nine formulations are prepared using peppermint oil, tween 80 and PEG 400. A pseudo ternary phase diagram was prepared to determine the self emulsion region. Four optimized formulations were prepared at 1:1 ratio(a mixture of surfactant and cosurfactant). These four formulations were evaluated for self-emulsification time, droplet size measurement, drug content analysis robustness to dilution test, viscosity analysis, f.t.i.r. The study and in-vitro diffusion studies. The ratio of scosmix (a mixture of surfactant and cosurfactant) of optimized formulation (pf5) was varied to pfa1 (2:1), pf2 (3:1), pfa3 (1:2) and compared with pure drug. The formulation having pfa1 (2:1) shown drug release of 93.13 % in 330 minutes where as pure drug showed a drug release of 54.51% in 330 minutes. So the prepared SMEDDS formulations were efficient and better than the pure drug, and it followed Korsmeyer pappes due to highest r2 value followed by Hixon crowel. It was concluded that incorporation of eprosartan mesylate in selfmicroemulsifying system is a great potential for improving the solubility and dissolution rate of eprosartan mesylate.