Anhydrous Nanoemulsion: An Advanced Drug Delivery System for Poorly Aqueous Soluble Drugs

Anhydrous nanoemulsions are novel colloidal dispersion with a nanosized kinetically stable system for poor aqueous soluble drugs like indomethacin, ibuprofen, cimetidine, phenylbutazone etc. This review deals with the basic concept of development of anhydrous nanoemulsions and vital role of surfactants. In the colloidal dispersion system water replaced with polyols or polar liquid phase which is best suited for water unstable and water sensitive drugs. Due to the larger size of globules or droplets and motility of surfactant in the system, it is capable of incorporating both lipophilic as well as hydrophilic active moieties. Special attention was given to prepare anhydrous preparation with avoidance of aqueous phase in a system and design fresh surfactant combination to achieve stable carrier system for hydrophobic drugs. Dispersion consists of oil, nonaqueous phase and surfactant and mixture of surfactant. Present reviews explored different surfactant and surfactant combination used for the preparation of anhydrous nanoemulsions.