Orally administered self-emulsifying drug delivery system in disease management: advancement and patents

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Oral administration of a drug is the most common, ideal and preferred route of administration. The main problem of oral drug formulations is their low bioavailability arises from poor aqueous solubility of drug. Aqueous solubility of lipophilic drugs can be improved by various techniques like salt formation, complexation, addition of co-solvent etc. but self-emulsifying drug-delivery system (SEDDS) is getting more attention for increasing the solubility of such drugs. The SEDDS is an isotropic mixture of drug, lipids, and emulsifiers, usually with one or more hydrophilic co-solvents/co-emulsifiers. This system is having ability to generate oil-in-water (o/w) emulsions or microemulsions upon gentle agitation followed by dilution with aqueous phase. The SEDDSs are relatively newer, lipid-based technological innovations possessing unparalleled potential in improving oral bioavailability of poorly water-soluble drugs.

Areas covered: This review provides updated information regarding the types of SEDDS, their preparation techniques, drug delivery and related recent patents along with marketed formulations.

Expert opinion: The SEDDS has been explored for improving bioavailability, rising intra-subject heterogeneity, and increasing solubility. SEDDS offers the benefit of a protective effect against the hostile environment in the gut. The unique fabrication techniques provide specific strategy to overcome the low bioavailability and poor solubility problems.

KEYWORDS:

• Self-emulsifying drug-delivery system
• solubility
• drug delivery
• patents
• bioavailability

Article highlights

• Conceptually self-emulsifying drug-delivery systems (SEDDS) are isotropic mixtures of drugs, lipids, and emulsifiers, usually with one or more hydrophilic co-solvents/co-emulsifiers.

• The SEDDS possess a great potential in oral bioavailability enhancement of poorly water-soluble drugs.

• The process of self-emulsification is dependent on diverse factors such as the nature of oil, surfactant, cosurfactant, oil/surfactant ratio, and the polarity of the emulsion.

• Drug solubility plays a pivotal role in the selection of excipients in SEDDS formulation.

• SEDDS are proving themselves as promising nanocarriers for the efficient drug delivery.

This box summarizes key points contained in the article.

Declaration of interest

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership, or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

Reviewer disclosures

Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.

Additional information

Funding

This paper was not funded.