Albendazole is an anthelmintic agent with poor solubility and absorption. We developed a chewable tablet (200 mg drug equivalent), containing a self-microemulsifying drug delivery system (SMEDDS), with oral disintegrating properties. The emulsion was developed using sesame and soybean oils along with surfactant/co-surfactants, and the tablets were prepared by wet granulation using superdisintegrants and adsorbents. Infra-red (IR) spectral studies revealed no interaction between the drug and excipients, and all physical and chemical parameters were within acceptable limits. Stability studies for the formulation indicated no significant change over time. An in vitro release study indicated 100% drug release within 30 min, and in vivo plasma concentrations indicated that the area under the curve (AUC) of albendazole in rats administered SMEDDS chewable tablets was significantly higher than in those administered commercial tablets or powder (p-value < 0.05). The systemic bioavailability of albendazole achieved through the SMEDDS tablets was 1.3 times higher than that achieved by the administration of comparable quantities of albendazole commercial tablets. This was due to the higher dissolution of albendazole SMEDDS in the chewable tablets. We conclude that the SMEDDS chewable formulation can be used to improve the dissolution and systemic availability of poorly water-soluble drugs.

An impactor is a standard instrument that applied for particle deposition assessment in the pharmaceutical aerosols. It provides data comparison between inhaler formulations. However, the deposition pattern in the impactor is not clearly understood. In practice monodisperse aerosols were employed to calibrate the impactor. This study used polydisperse aerosols together with the computer simulation to track the particles in the impactor to understand the deposition pattern. Particles deposited on each stage of the Andersen cascade impactor were compared with its stage cut-off diameter using polydisperse aerosols by three particle sizing techniques. The relationship of cut-off diameter with particle size distribution was established for each stage. Also, the computational verification was used to complement the real experiments. Projected diameters from microscope images showed that the size of particles varied on the stage's collection plate, and the median size of each stage decreased along the lower stages from 8.53 to 0.92 μm. The median sizes measured by laser diffraction were close to the impactor's cut-off diameters. In silico data showed that the outlet mass fractions gradually changed in size towards the lower stages. Polydisperse aerosols and in silico computer fluid dynamics may compliment to standard calibration method.