Immediate release of ibuprofen from Fujicalin®-based fast-dissolving self-emulsifying tablets.

Background: Drug release from a solid form of self-emulsifying drug delivery system (SEDDS) has greatly been limited due to strong adsorption and physical interaction with carriers. To facilitate drug release process in the stomach, an acid-soluble powderizing carrier, Fujicalin(®) was evaluated together with different disintegrants and hydrophilic lubricants.

Method: Immediate-release self-emulsifying tablets (IR-SETs) of ibuprofen (IBU) was prepared with solidified SEDDS of IBU, various disintegrants, and lubricants, and drug release was evaluated to develop IR-SET that can release IBU with a similar IBU release rate to that obtained with liquid SEDDS.

Results: The liquid SEDDS consisted of Capryol 90, Cremophor EL, Labrasol, and IBU at a ratio of 3:4:3:3, and was solidified with various adsorbents. The powderized SEDDS was tabletted by a direct compression. Fujicalin(®)-based SEDDS tablets demonstrated remarkably higher dissolution rate of IBU compared with Neusilin(®) and Neosyl(®)-based SEDDS tablets. The IR-SET formula of IBU prepared with Fujicalin(®) as an adsorbent, Polyplasdone(®) as a disintegrant, and sodium bicarbonate as a co-disintegrant showed over 90% of initially loaded dose of IBU released within 5 min in a stimulated gastric juice (pH 1.2), exhibiting almost equivalent rate of IBU release to that shown by liquid SEDDS. The particle size analysis revealed no significant differences in droplet sizes of the microemulsions formed from liquid (116 nm) and IR-SET (110 nm).

Conclusion: The novel IR-SET can be promising as a fast-releasing SEDDS tablet of IBU for fast onset of action.