Lumefantrine is having poor solubility and variable bioavailability.

Lumefantrine and Eudragit E PO is co-precipitated by anti-solvent method

Drug: polymer co-precipitates showed improved solubility and dissolution rate

Objectives: Lumefantrine, an antimalarial drug, is having poor solubility and variable bioavailability. This work is aimed to prepare and evaluate co-precipitate of lumefantrine-Eudragit E PO to improve its dissolution by anti-solvent precipitation.

Material and methods: The anti-solvent precipitation technique was used to prepare co-precipitate of lumefantrine-Eudragit E PO at different ratios and based on their solubility; the optimized ratio (1:0.5) was further evaluated for solid state characterization, dissolution and compared with lumefantrine and pure precipitated lumefantrine.

Results: The optimized ratio of co-precipitate (1:0.5) was further evaluated which showed a substantial rise in drug solubility of lumefantrine. SEM photographs indicated dispersion of drug in polymer matrix however, no interaction was observed in FTIR studies. Their DSC and XRPD data revealed the conversion of lumefantrine to its amorphous form. Further, a significant improvement in the rate of dissolution was demonstrated by co-precipitate as compare to pure drug or solely precipitated drug. This may be attributed to the partial conversion of lumefantrine in amorphous form and solubilizing capacity of Eudragit E PO.

Conclusion: Thus, co-precipitate of lumefantrine-Eudragit E PO was found to be useful in dissolution improvement and can be further studied for stabilization of co-precipitates.