S454 Indian Journal of Pharmaceutical Education and Research | Vol 56 | Issue 3 (Suppl) | Jul-Sep, 2022 Original Artcle www.ijper.org Cefuroxime Axetil Loaded Dispersed Formulation for Enhanced Drug Release and Antibacterial Activity Moushumi Tabassoom Salam 1 , Ashim Kumar 1 , Md. Abdus Salam 2 , Mir Imam Ibne Wahed 1 , Ranjan Kumar Barman 1, * 1 Laboratory of Pharmaceutics, Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Science, University of Rajshahi, Rajshahi, BANGLADESH. 2 Department of Basic Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, International Islamic University, Kuantan, MALAYSIA. ABSTRACT Aim: Aqueous solubility of drugs is a determining factor for bioavailability in systemic circulation and confronts in the unbeaten formulation of therapeutic agents. Cefuroxime axetil (CA) is a broad-spectrum β-lactamase cephalosporin that pertains to class II drugs under Biopharmaceutical Classification System (BCS) with poor aqueous solubility and high absorption permeability after oral administration. The objective of this current work was to achieve the enhanced solubility in water and subsequent antibacterial activity of CA loaded coarse dispersion (CCD) formulations. Materials and Methods: CCDs were prepared by anti-solvent precipitation method by blending CA with a carrier, Microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) at different ratios. In-vitro dissolution test using paddle method and antibacterial study against Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 25923) and Escherichia coli (ATCC 25922) were carried out for both pure CA and CCDs for performance comparison. Results: Among the formulations, CCD-3 exhibited maximized dissolution rate by 1.67-fold higher than that of pure CA with the drug-carrier (CA: MCC) ratio of 1:3. Antibacterial activity of CCD-3 against S. aureus and E. coli was also found by 1.75-fold and 5.25-fold higher relative zone of inhibition (RZOI), respectively than that of pure drug. Conclusion: As an optimized formulation, CCD-3 is a promising to be a fruitful substitute to conventional dosage forms of CA for the modified dissolution rate and antibacterial potency. However, before its recommendation as a novel formulation validation study to point its pharmacokinetics, competence with in-vivo antibacterial property and safety is needed. Keywords: Cefroxime axetil, Coarse dispersion, Solubility, Dissolution, Antibacterial activity. DOI: 10.5530/ijper.56.3s.153 Correspondence: Dr. Ranjan Kumar Barman Laboratory of Pharmaceutics, Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Science, University of Rajshahi, Rajshahi-6205, BANGLADESH. E-mail: drbarman76@gmail. com Submission Date: 13-03-2021; Revision Date: 23-03-2022; Accepted Date: 21-04-2022. INTRODUCTION The oral delivery of drugs has been the most popular and commonly employed route due to its advantages such as ease of administration, high patient compliance, cost-effectiveness, high production output, least need for maintenance of sterile condition and fexibility in the dosage form design. 1 Bioavailability after oral administration of a drug is a very important consideration for therapeutic success and it can be infuenced by several factors viz., its solubility in water, permeability through membranes, rate of dissolution, frst pass metabolism, biotransformation and sensitivity to effux mechanisms. 2 Amongst these, dissolution is the rate determining step during absorption of poorly aqueous soluble drugs leading to inadequate bioavailability. 3 There exists a challenge for the pharmaceutical scientists always to develop formulations that can overcome the hurdle of poor solubility and to maximize the bioavailability in systemic circulation upon oral delivery. To circumvent the obstacles; various techniques improving drug solubility for enhancing bioavailability are in practice for long. The reported approaches are solid dispersion, anti-solvent precipitation, dry suspension and dry emulsion, lipidic dispersion, nanosuspension, drug dispersion