Enhancing Solubility and Dissolution of Celecoxib by Spray Drying using Pluronic F 127

Celecoxib, a selective COX-2 inhibitor, exhibits poor water solubility, dissolution and flow properties. Thus, the aim of the present study was to improve the solubility and dissolution rate of celecoxib by preparing microspheres by spray drying technique using pluronic F 127. Celecoxib Microspheres containing different ratios of pluronic F 127 were produced by spray drying using dichloromethane as solvent system to enhance solubility and dissolution rate. The prepared formulations containing different ratios of drug and pluronic F 127 were evaluated for solubility and in-vitro dissolution. The prepared formulations were characterized by differential scanning calorimeter (DSC), fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), x-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Dissolution profile of the prepared spray dried microspheres was compared with its physical mixture and pure sample. Spray dried microspheres exhibited decreased crystallinity. The solubility and dissolution of the microspheres containing different ratios of drug and polymer were significantly improved compared with physical mixture and pure sample of celecoxib. The solubility of microspheres containing Celecoxib and pluronic F 127 (1:5w/w) exhibited five fold increases than the pure celecoxib and dissolution of same ratio microsphere showed 98 % release in 30 min. while same composition in physical mixture showed 88% release in 60 min. Consequently, from the above result it can be concluded that spray dried microspheres of celecoxib is a useful technique to improve the solubility and dissolution of poorly water soluble drug like celecoxib.