Self emulsifying drug delivery system (sedds): a method for bioavailability enhancement

TLDR: An overview of Self Emulsifying Drug Delivery System (SEDDS), which leads to in situ solubilization of drug that can subsequently be absorbed by lymphatic pathways, bypassing the hepatic first-pass effect, is given.

Abstract: Oral route is preferred for drug administration. More than 40% of New Chemical Entities exhibit poor aqueous solubility resulting in unsatisfactory oral drug delivery. Low aqueous solubility and thereby low oral bioavailability is a major concern for formulation scientist as many recent drugs are lipophilic in nature and their lower solubility and dissolution is a major drawback for their successful formulation into oral dosage forms. Aqueous solubility of drugs can be increased by different methods such as salt formation, solid dispersion, complex formation but Self Emulsifying Drug Delivery System (SEDDS) is gaining more attention for improving the solubility of lipophilic drugs. SEDDS are ideally isotropic mixtures of drug, oil, surfactant and/or co surfactant. Following their administration, these systems rapidly disperse in gastrointestinal fluid, yielding micro-/nano-emulsions containing solubilized dug .This leads to in situ solubilization of drug that can subsequently be absorbed by lymphatic pathways, bypassing the hepatic first-pass effect. This article gives an overview of SEDDS with emphasis on need of SEDDS, mechanism of SEDDS, various formulation approaches, methods of formulation of SEDDS and evaluation of SEDDS.