ZAHRAA A ALSAFAR, FATİMA J JAWAD
Acta Pharmaceutica Sciencia - 2025;63(1):44-60
Calcium channel blocker lercanidipine HCl treats hypertension and angina pectoris. It is a biopharmaceutical classification system (BCS) class II drug due to its poor water solubility. First-pass metabolism and low solubility reduce lercanidipine HCl oral bioavailability to 10%. This research aims to improve the dissolution rate of lercanidipine HCl by developing a nanosuspension and then transforming it into a sublingual fast-dissolving film with rapid disintegration, simple administration, and stability that will enhance patient adherence. The solvent-antisolvent precipitation technique produced lercanidipine HCl nanosuspension. Sublingual fast-dissolving films contain lercanidipine HCl nanoparticles produced by solvent casting. The dissolution rate increased significantly in nanosuspension. Film formulations using 50% polyvinyl alcohol and 30% glycerin produced excellent results. Formula F4 is optimal due to its 25-second disintegration and 99.8% in vitro drug release in 4 minutes. The study observed that lercanidipine HCl sublingual film offered an effective drug delivery system with improved disintegration and patient compliance.
