Abstract

FORMULATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF SAQUINAVIR NANOPARTICLES PREPARED BY NANOPRECIPITATION METHOD

S. Sivaprasad*, P. Subhash Chandra Bose, Ch. Sadakvali, G. Ravi and V. Swathi

Abstract

The development of new delivery systems for the controlled release of drugs is one of the most promising fields of research in pharmaceutical sciences. Nanoparticles were specially designed to release the drug at the desired target sites. The main objective of this work was to prepare and characterize Saquinavir nanoparticles as potential drug delivery system for anti-HIV chemotherapy. The particle size and the surface morphology results revealed that Saquinavir nanoparticles were smooth with a size ranging from 248 nm-412 nm. The drug entrapment efficiency was found to be nearly 98%. In vitro release studies revealed that the rate of drug release from F5 was 98.97% in 16 hours. Release of drug follows first order and show controlled release behavior. Koresmeyer- peppas model shows that the drug follow non-Fickian transport as the value of n>0.5. The results suggest that TPGS polymer based nanoparticulate formulations are potential means to achieve release of saquinavir for the prolonged period of time for effective therapy.

Keywords: Saquinavir, TPGS, Control release, HIV treatment.