Flowablity, compressibility, dissolution and hardness of piroxicam liquisolid systems

Objectives: Although liquisolid formulations can show a fast dissolution rate, loading factor is not very high due to lack of good flowability and compactibility. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to improve flow, compactibility and dissolution of piroxicam liquisolid formulations by incorporating different types of microcrystalline cellulose. Methods: Several formulations were prepared and their physico-mechanical and dissolution behaviors were investigated. In the present study, propylene glycol, silica and sodium starch glycolate were used as non-volatile solvent, coating material and disintegranting agent respectively. Physical stability of the liquisolid formulations was also investigated to see the effect of aging on hardness and dissolution. Results: Comparing all hardness data showed that liquisolid compacts containing avicel PH101 and 200 showed superior compactibility than those formulations containing avicel 102. Although avicel PH 200 on its own had better flowability than other grades, in liquisolid formulations avicel PH 101 showed better performance than other grades in terms of flowability. The results showed that a better dissolution rate was obtained with liquisolid formulations containing avicel PH 101 and 102 compared to the formulations containing avicel PH 200. The results showed these liquisolid formulations were stable under the stored conditions and hardness and dissolution behaviours of liquisolid formulations were not significantly affected by aging. Conclusion: It could be concluded that by choosing the right type of carrier flow and hardness of liquisolid formulations can be improved without any significant negative effect on dissolution performance of piroxicam liquisolid compacts.