Studies on Application of Prosolve as a Direct Compressible Vehicle for Improving the Dissolution Rate of Poorly Soluble Drugs

Prosolve, a new directly compressible vehicle consists of microcrystalline cellulose (98%) and colloidal silicon dioxide (2%). Piroxicam (20 mg) tablets, celecoxib (100 mg) tablets and aceclofenac (100 mg) tablets were formulated employing prosolve and three super disintegrants namely pregelatinised starch, sodium starch glycolate and croscarmellose sodium by direct compression method with a view to enhance their dissolution rate. In the micromeritic evaluation microcrystalline cellulose and its blends with other tablet ingredients exhibited excellent to good flow needed for direct compression. All the tablets formulated employing prosolve fulfilled the Pharmacopoeial standards with regard to various tablet characters. These tablets also gave 2 to 5 fold increase in the dissolution rate when compared to commercial tablets. Among the three disintegrants sodium starch glycolate gave higher dissolution rates when compared with both pregelatinised starch and croscarmellose sodium.