Design, characterization and pharmacokinetic studies of anti-Malarial drug Artemisinin by optimized self-emulsifying nano drug delivery system (SNEDDS)

Owing to deprived hydrophilicity, Artemisinin (ART) is known as Class II biopharmaceutical (BCS). The goal of the existing endeavor is to formulate ART self-nanoemulsifying drug delivery systems (ART-SNEDDS) that will increase its solubility in water. Thus, excipients were screened in pre-formulation experiments for solubility and emulsification effectiveness. Moreover, blends of the oil soy bean, surfactant tween 80 and co-surfactant soy lecithin were used to create pseudo ternary phase diagrams at different ratios. Further, the prepared ART-SNEDDS were evaluated visually, for thermodynamic stability, time to self nano-emulsify, the impact of dilution and pH, % transmittance, droplet size, poly dispersity index (PDI), surface morphology studies, zeta potential, in-vitro release rate, and for oral pharmacokinetic studies. The ART-SNEDDS were prepared to increase the quantity of loaded ART into the formulation. Nevertheless, in-vitro dissolution studies of the ART-SNEDDS formulation demonstrated an increased dissolution with improved solubility. It was found through oral bio-availability experiments in rats that there was an improvement in rate of absorption as well. As a result, a formulation to increase the drug's solubility and perhaps bioavailability was developed.