ABSTRACT:
Aqueous solubility is one of the key determinants in development of new chemical entities as successful drugs. Water insolubility of most of the drugs affects stability and bioavailability of the drug and if it also insoluble in organic medium, then it becomes difficult to deliver it in a sufficiently bioavailable form and hence it is a great challenge to formulation researchers to overcome such difficulty. Various formulation techniques are applied to compensate for their insolubility and consequent slow dissolution rate. This include formulation of the amorphous solid form, solid dispersions, melt extrusion, salt formation and for formation of water- soluble complexes and microemulsions but has certain draw backs like use of organic solvents, low drug loading and large doses. However, a new solution to poorly water soluble drug candidates is now available i.e. nanonisation and it leads to much more soluble, more biologically available and safer dosage form of poorly soluble and poorly bioavailable drugs. Controlled release of these drugs is also possible by forming nano structured matrices. In this article, a brief description of production methods of drug nanoparticles and commercialized methods are presented along with brief overview on second generation of drug nanocrystal (Smart crystal technology), controlled release of hydrophobic drugs and recent works thereof are also presented.