Abstract

Solid dispersions of glipizide were prepared using water-soluble carriers such as polyvinylpyrrolidone and polyethylene glycol by common solvent method in an attempt to increase the dissolution rate of glipizide, a practically insoluble drug in water. Differential scanning calorimetry, xray difiractometry and in vitro dissolution studies were used to characterize the solid dispersions. No chemical interaction was found between glipizide and polyvinylpyrrolidone/polyethylene glycol. The results from Differential scanning calorimetry and x-ray diffractometry studies show that polyvinylpyrrolidone/polyethylene glycol inhibits the crystallization of glipizide. The solid dispersions prepared in this study were found to have higher dissolution rates compared to intact glipizide and physical mixtures of polyvinylpyrrolidone/polyethylene glycol and glipizide. It was found that the optimum weight ratio for glipizide:carrier is 1:5 for polyvinylpyrrolidone and 1:7 for polyethylene glycol.