Abstract

Solid dispersions of meloxicam (MX) in polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP), hydroxy propyl methyl cellulose (HPMC), hydroxy propyl cellulose (HPC) and polyethylene glycol 6000 (PEG) and solvent deposited systems on lactose, soluble starch, microcrystalline cellulose (MCC), dicalcium phosphate (DCP), silica gel and their selected tablet formulations were investigated with an objective of enhancing the dissolution rate of MX. A marked enhancement in the dissolution rate and dissolution efficiency of MX was observed with all solid dispersions and solvent deposited systems. Among the carriers used in solid dispersions PVP gave highest enhancement (19 fold) in the dissolution rate of MX at 9:1 ratio of drug and carrier and in the case of solvent deposited systems MCC and DCP gave an improvement of 13.1 and 17.5 fold in the dissolution rate of MX respectively at 1:2 ratio of drug and excipient when compared to MX itself. The solid dispersions in PVP and HPMC and the solvent deposited systems on MCC and DCP could be formulated into tablets. These tablets, apart from fulfilling the official and other specifications, exhibited higher rates of dissolution and dissolution efficiency values.