ABSTRACT:
The oral delivery of hydrophobic drugs presents a major challenge because of the low aqueous solubility of such compounds. Self-emulsifying drug delivery systems (SEDDS) are mixtures of oils and surfactants, ideally isotropic, sometimes including co-solvents, which emulsify under conditions of gentle agitation, similar to those which would be encountered in the gastro-intestinal tract. Recently, much attention has been focused on SEDDS to improve the oral bioavailability of poorly aqueous soluble drugs. The sole objective of pharmaceutical science is to design successful dosage forms which ful?ll the therapeutic needs of the patients effectively. SEDDS are liquid to semisolid in nature, but it has drawbacks as formulation development, quality control, stability etc. These liquid SEDDS can be converted into solid dosage forms such as pellets, tablets, capsules, microspheres, micro-beads, nanoparticles etc without affecting drug release property. After administering the drug gets released and self emulsify in the GI tract. This article gives an overview of the new excipients used in SEDDS, types of formulations and SE dosage forms with characterization methods and pharmaceutical applications of SEDDS.