Comparative evaluation of various solubility enhancement strategies for furosemide.

Drugs with good solubility exhibit good oral absorption, and subsequently good bioavailability. Thus, most exigent phase of drug development practice particularly for oral dosage forms is the enhancement of drug solubility. This review describes various traditional and novel methodologies proposed for the solubility enhancement of furosemide. For furosemide, solubility and permeability are crucial rate limiting factors to achieve its desired level in systemic circulation for pharmacological response. Thus, problematic solubility of furosemide is one of the main challenges for dosage form developing researchers. Various procedures, illustrated in this review, have been successfully employed to improve the furosemide solubility; however successful improvement essentially depends on the assortment of technique. It is concluded from the results that dissolution rate of drug increases by increasing the quantity of solubility enhancer. Dissolution rate also depends upon the type of enhancer and dissolution medium. In order to achieve relatively enhanced percentage drug release after 30 min (DP30), complexation by solvent evaporation using β-cyclodextrin is the best method. Solid dispersion is found the best if polyethylene glycol is used as enhancer along with microcrystalline cellulose as hydrophilic adsorbent. All the approaches narrated in this article possess good perceptions for additional research i.e. in-vivo studies should be carried out focusing on delivery system development.