The present invention discloses a novel pharmaceutical excipient for enhancing solubility of poorly water soluble drugs. The same is gum obtained from the bark of the plant Araucaria Cookii (Commonly known as ‘Captain Cook’s Pine’) which is alcohol purified and air-dried to obtain free flowing powder. The powder can be easily compressed to formulate oral solid dosage forms e.g. tablets. Extraction of the crude gum with alcohol results in removal of impurities (Approx. 30% by weight) and yields a dry, free-flowing product (powder). The product has immense commercial importance because it results in enhanced bio-availability of poorly water soluble drugs, which in turns leads to better therapeutic profiles i.e. superior efficacy of the same drugs. The solubility enhancement of a poorly water soluble drug ‘atorvastatin calcium’ when using the excipient of present invention was approximately 16 fold over the pure drug without excipient (Table 1).

Inventors

Manju Nagpal, Loveleen Kaur, Sandeep Arora

Patent File Number - 201611010235        Patent File Date - 23/03/2016