Improvement of firocoxib dissolution performance through electrospun fibers obtained from different polymer/surfactant associations

An electrospinning process was optimized to produce fibers of micrometric size with dierent combinations of polymeric and surfactant materials to promote the dissolution rate of an insoluble drug: firocoxib. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) showed that only some combinations of the proposed carrier systems allowed the production of suitable fibers and further fine optimization of the technique is also needed to load the drug. Dierential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and X-ray powder diraction (XRPD) suggest that the drug is in an amorphous state in the final product. Drug amorphization, the fine dispersion of the active in the carriers, and the large surface area exposed to water interaction obtained through the electrospinning process can explain the remarkable improvement in the dissolution performance of firocoxib from the final product developed.