title: Oral formulation strategies to improve solubility of poorly water-soluble drugs.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  In the past two decades, there has been a spiraling increase in the complexity and specificity of drug-receptor targets. It is possible to design drugs for these diverse targets with advances in combinatorial chemistry and high throughput screening. Unfortunately, but not entirely unexpectedly, these advances have been accompanied by an increase in the structural complexity and a decrease in the solubility of the active pharmaceutical ingredient. Therefore, the importance of formulation strategies to improve the solubility of poorly water-soluble drugs is inevitable, thus making it crucial to understand and explore the recent trends.
  
  
  METHODS
  Drug delivery systems (DDS), such as solid dispersions, soluble complexes, self-emulsifying drug delivery systems (SEDDS), nanocrystals and mesoporous inorganic carriers, are discussed briefly in this review, along with examples of marketed products. This article provides the reader with a concise overview of currently relevant formulation strategies and proposes anticipated future trends.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Today, the pharmaceutical industry has at its disposal a series of reliable and scalable formulation strategies for poorly soluble drugs. However, due to a lack of understanding of the basic physical chemistry behind these strategies, formulation development is still driven by trial and error.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Pharmacotechnology and Biopharmacy, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, B-3000 Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Abhishek
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.forename: Zelalem Ayenew
authors.initials: ZA
authors.lastname: Worku
authors.forename: Guy
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Van den Mooter
mesh_terms: D000284:Administration, Oral; D002626:Chemistry, Pharmaceutical; D006801:Humans; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000737:chemistry*; D012995:Solubility
chemical_list: D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations