Dissolution and Stability Enhancement of Poorly Water Soluble Drug – Lovastatin by Preparing Solid Dispersions

Solid Dispersions greatly enhance the surface area and hence the dissolution rate and the bioavailability of poorly water-soluble drugs are raised. Thus solid dispersions of Lovastatin have been formulated to improve its solubility and dissolution characteristics, reduce dosing frequency and to improve its stability. METHODS: Lovastatin solid dispersions were prepared by solvent evaporation method. The prepared solid dispersions were characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy and evaluated for various parameters like drug content, solubility and dissolution studies and different physical properties. RESULTS: FTIR of the solid dispersion showed that the peaks of Lovastatin and polymers were distinguishable and hence there was no chemical interaction between drug and polymer after formation of solid dispersions. The data indicated that solubility increased in all cases. Dissolution data of all solid dispersions also indicated increase in dissolution as compared to pure drug and increase was due to wetting phenomenon of superdisintegrants used for preparation of solid dispersions. CONCLUSIONS: The solvent evaporation method was found to be a promising method for formulating uniform and stable lovastatin solid dispersions with enhanced surface area and dissolution rate. The bioavailability also increased due to increased wettability of the solid dispersions.