Abstract

Solid dispersions of itraconazole (ITR) in polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), hydroxy propyl methyl cellulose (HPMC), hydroxy propyl cellulose (HPC) and their tablet formulations were investigated with an objective of enhancing the dissolution rate of ITR from tablets. A marked enhancement in the dissolution rate of ITR was observed with all the solid dispersions. HPC gave the highest improvement (7.5 fold) in the dissolution rate of ITR at 10% concentration when compared to ITR itself. XRD indicated the presence of ITR in amorphous form in ITR-HPC solid dispersion and the crystallinity of ITR was much reduced in ITRHPMC and ITR-PVP solid dispersions. DSC indicated no interaction between ITR and PVP, HPMC and HPC. The solid dispersions could be formulated into tablets. These tablets, apart from fulfilling all official and other specifications, exhibited higher rates of dissolution and dissolution efficiency (DE) values.