IRBESARTAN DISSOLUTION ENHANCEMENT USING PEG-BASED
SOLID DISPERSIONS: THE EFFECT OF PEG MOLECULAR WEIGHTS
NOUSHIN BOLOURCHIAN*, FATEMEH MIRZAYEH FASHAMI, SEYED MOHSEN FOROUTAN
Department of Pharmaceutics and Pharmaceutical Nanotechnology, School of Pharmacy, Shahid Beheshti University of
Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
*corresponding author: bolourchian@sbmu.ac.ir
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Abstract:
The aim of the present study was to enhance the dissolution of irbesartan (IBS), a poorly soluble drug, using solid dispersion
(SD) with different molecular weights of polyethylene glycol (PEG). Irbesartan loaded SDs and PMs (physical mixtures)
were prepared with different drug: carrier ratios using PEG 6000, 10000 and 20000. Dissolution behaviour, physical state of
formulations as well as solubility were studied on the formulations. Based on the results, the dissolution rate was remarkably
increased in all formulations compared to the intact IBS. However, the dissolution improvement in SDs was more than
related PMs. The PEG molecular weight was an effective factor on the results. The highest dissolution efficiency (DE60 =
95.47%) was obtained for IBS:PEG 10000 ratio of 1:5. Saturation solubility of IBS was also increased significantly due to
the presence of hydrophilic carrier as well as reduced drug particle size. The negative values of Gibbs free energy revealed
the spontaneous process of drug solubilisation in aqueous polymer environment. The results confirmed no polymorphic
changes during sample preparation.

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