FORMULATION AND STABILITY EVALUATION OF KETOPROFEN LOADED VIRGIN COCONUT OIL BASED CREAMY EMULSION

Objective: To formulate and optimize a topical formulation; a virgin coconut oil (VCO) based Ketoprofen loaded creamy emulsion containing Tween 80® as the surfactant and to evaluate the stability of samples. Methods: In preformulatory studies optimization of the formulae was done using ternary phase diagrams with water titration method and emulsions were formulated using two methods; spontaneous emulsification and homogenization. Their stability was analyzed under visual observation to optimize the best formulae for Ketoprofen incorporated creamy emulsion. 2.5% w/w Ketoprofen topical formulations are available in the market. Results: Centrifugation provided more comparable data than visual observation. Phase separation was the main instability condition observed in unstable emulsions. Composition 23.60% VCO: 29.53% Tween 80®: 45.87% water was identified as the best optimized formulae in both with and without Ketoprofen formulations and all the samples with different Ketoprofen concentrations were stable for 14 days under centrifugation and visual observation stability studies. Conclusion: Homogenization was more effective in stable emulsion formation than spontaneous emulsification in VCO, Tween 80®,water emulsion. The best optimized formula was 23.60% VCO: 29.53% Tween 80®: 45.87% water