Enhancement of Solubility of Diclofenac Sodium by Pastillation Method

The Diclofenac Sodium is BCS class II drug which comes under the antipyretic class drug, and has a wide range of use. But due to its low solubility it has low dissolution rate and hence reduced bioavailability. There are several methods for the enhancement of solubility and dissolution rate. Pastillation technique is widely employed in chemical industry for solidification and better handling. Pastilles are solidified discrete units, acquired directly from the melt mass. However, this method of pastillation has not been explored for the drug delivery system yet. Literature revels that it can be used as a novel, effective and easiest method for the enhancement of solubility and dissolution rate. The selection of polymer was done by the solubility studies and Kolliphor HS 15 was used to make the pastilles of Diclofenac Sodium. Formation of pastilles were confirmed by FT-IR and further evaluated for % yield, drug contents, solubility study and dissolution test. From the results it was concluded that, solubility of Diclofenac Sodium was increased by pastillation method by 2-fold and dissolution rate was also enhanced by double than that of the drug. Thus, pastillation can be an effective and easiest method to enhance the solubility, dissolution rate and bioavailability of poorly water-soluble drugs having good permeability.  Keywords: Diclofenac Sodium, Pastillation, Kolliphor HS 15, Solubility enhancement, Solid dispersion