INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PHARMACEUTICAL AND CHEMICAL SCIENCES Vol. 1 (1) Jan – Mar 2012 www.ijpcsonline.com 407 Research Article AN IN-VITRO EVALUATION FOR THE EFFECT OF β- CYCLODEXTRIN AND PVP-K 30 ON DRUG RELEASE PATTERN OF SERTRALINE HYDROCHLORIDE Deepa Warrier 1 , Aanna Zagade 1 , Amir Shaikh 2* , Yogesh Pawar 2 and Subhash Kumbhar 2 1 Indira College of Pharmacy, “Niramaya” 89/2-A, Tathawade, Pune, Maharashtra, India. 2 Department of Pharmaceutics, Indira College of Pharmacy, “Niramaya” 89/2-A, Tathawade, Pune, Maharashtra, India. ____________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACT Solubility enhancement of poorly water soluble drug is an important aspect of formulation development. Sertraline hydrochloride is a selective serotonin reuptake inhibiter (SSRI) that exhibits antidepressant activities & is practically insoluble in water. Since Sertraline hydrochoride is a poorly water soluble drug, therefore to increase its solubility Solid dispersions were prepared in different molar ratios of drug/ carrier by using kneading method. PVP K-30 & β-cyclodextrin (CD) were used as carriers. Various concentrations of drug and polymers were made (1:1, 1:2 ratios) to check the effect of polymer concentrations on drug release pattern of Sertraline hydrochloride. The release rate of sertraline hydrochloride from the resulting complexes was determined from dissolution studies by use of USP type 1 dissolution test apparatus (Basket type). After comparing the release from pure drug & Solid dispersion approaches, it was found that the solubility of sertraline hydrochloride was remarkably increased by use of 1:2 ratios (drug: polymer). The % release of the drug from solid dispersion of the drug & CD in the ratio 1:2 was found to be 94.79% & that of PVP K-30 it was found to be 94.14% after 15 mins. From the result it can be concluded that percent release of sertraline Hcl was improved from 35.14% to 94.79% by forming complexes of CD and PVP K-30 with drug. Keywords: Solubility enhancement, Sertraline hydrochloride, PVP K- 30, β-cyclodextrin. INTRODUCTION Today, 35-40% all new chemical entities suffer from poor aqueous solubility. The Biopharmaceutical Classification System (BCS) classifies them as class II substances. 1 . The poor solubility and low dissolution rate of poorly water soluble drugs in the aqueous gastro-intestinal fluids often cause insufficient bioavailability 2 . Improvement of the solubility of poorly water-soluble drugs is one of the most challenging aspects of drug development. 3 Therapeutic effectiveness of a drug depends upon the bioavailability and ultimately upon the solubility of drug molecules. Solubility is one of the important parameter to achieve desired concentration of drug in systemic circulation for pharmacological response to be shown. Currently only 8% of new drug candidates have both high solubility and permeability. As a matter of fact, more than one-third of the drugs listed in the U.S. Pharmacopoeia fall into the poorly water-soluble or water- insoluble categories. It was reported a couple of decades ago that more than 41% of the failures in new drug development have been attributed to poor biopharmaceutical properties, including water insolubility, while it was still indicated recently that about 50% failure of drug candidates was due to poor “drug-like” properties. It is commonly recognized in the pharmaceutical industry that on average more than 40% of newly discovered drug candidates are poorly water-soluble. Poor “drug like” properties of lead compounds led to ineffective absorption from the site of