AN APPROACH TO ENHANCE THE SOLUBILITY OF RILPIVIRINE HYDROCHLORIDE USING SOLID DISPERSION TECHNIQUE

Kanchan Chauhan* and Saloni Shaikh

ABSTRACT

The aim of the current research was to enhance the solubility and dissolution characteristics of poorly water soluble drug rilpivirine by solid dispersion technique. The study includes solubility enhancement of rilpivirine by using several water soluble carriers such as PEG 6000, PEG 4000, polyvinyl alcohol in different ratios (1:2, 1:3, 1:4) and with different techniques such as solvent evaporation technique, Fusion method and microwave irradiation method. The solid dispersions were evaluated for various in vitro parameters such as dissolution study and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). The FTIR spectral analysis showed that there was no drug interaction with formulations additives of the tablet as there is no variation and shift in bands observed which justified that there is no interaction between drug and polymer. Solubility and dissolution rate of rilpivirine was found to be significantly higher in microwave-assisted solid dispersions. Solid dispersion of rilpivirine: PEG 6000 (1:3) exhibits fastest dissolution among all solid dispersions and thus it was selected for formulation. The solid dispersion of rilpivirine: PEG 6000 (1:3) was taken and formulated into tablets using direct compression method. The results indicated that formulated tablets of solid dispersions by microwave method gives better dissolution profiles. Microwave technology offers a simple, efficient, solvent-free promising alternative method to prepare solid dispersion with significant enhancement of solubility and dissolution rate.

Keywords: Rilpivirine, PEG 6000, solid dispersion, dissolution.