Abstract

Deferasirox is an iron chelator used in the treatment of iron overload. It shows good oral bioavailability of 70 % but is plagued with various side effects that could be addressed if the dose of the drug was reduced. It is a drug that has to be taken chronically and hence, would benefit from a convenient dosage form. With these aims in focus, an orally disintegrating tablet containing a self-microemulsifying drug delivery system of deferasirox was attempted. Various oils, surfactants and co-surfactants were screened and sunflower oil, Cremophor RH 40 and Capmul MCM C8 were respectively selected, and the microemulsion region was identified by constructing pseudo-ternary phase diagrams. The self-microemulsifying drug delivery system could be successfully loaded onto Aerosil 200, and these solid self-microemulsifying drug delivery system could be converted into orally disintegrating tablets with all the desired attributes. The tablets showed a 32 % increase in drug release within 1 h over the conventional formulation available locally. From the various studies performed, it could be concluded that the prepared orally disintegrating tablet of drug-loaded solid self-microemulsifying drug delivery system has the potential to improve the bioavailability of deferasirox, which could lead to titration and further reduction of dose, which would reduce the incidence of side effects.