Development of orally disintegrating tablets of Perphenazine/hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin inclusion complex

The aim of the present work was to prepare perphenazine (PPZ) orally disintegrating tablets (ODTs) based on the use of hydroxypropyl-beta-cyclodextrin (HP-beta-CD) forming inclusion complex with PPZ to improve the solubility and dissolution of this practically insoluble drug. Phase solubility studies were performed to evaluate the complexation of PPZ with HP-beta-CD in three aqueous systems. The inclusion complex prepared by evaporation method was characterized by different physicochemical techniques, including the dissolution studies. The prepared complex was incorporated into ODTs containing different fillers and disintegrants. The ODTs prepared by direct compression were evaluated for drug content, hardness, porosity, friability, in vitro disintegration time (DT), wetting time (WT) and dissolution profiles. The solubility and dissolution rate were substantially improved compared with that of PPZ. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analyses suggested that PPZ could form true inclusion complex with HP-beta-CD. The optimized formulation F6 exhibited short DT (15.5 +/- 1.9 s) and WT (34.2 +/- 2.3 s), sufficient hardness (30.4 +/- 1.6 N/mm) and rapid drug dissolution. The developed tablet formulation could be a promising drug delivery system with improvements in PPZ bioavailability and patient compliance.