As a consequence of modern drug discovery techniques, there has been a steady increase in the number of new pharmacologically active lipophilic compounds that are poorly water soluble and solubility is one of the most important parameter to achieve desired concentration of drug in systemic circulation for therapeutic response. It is a great challenge for pharmaceutical scientist to convert those molecules into orally administered formulation with sufficient bioavailability.  Among the several approaches to improve oral bioavailability of these molecules, Self-micron emulsifying drug delivery system (SMEDDS) is one of the approaches usually used to improve the bioavailability of hydrophobic drugs. However, conventional SMEDDS are mostly prepared in a liquid form, which can have several disadvantages. Accordingly, solid SMEDDS (S-SMEDDS) prepared by solidification of liquid/semisolid self-micron emulsifying (SME) ingredients into powders have gained popularity. This article provides an overview of the recent advancements in S-SMEDDS such as methodology, techniques and future research directions.

In the case of solubility limited absorption, creating supersaturation in the GI fluid is very critical as supersaturation may provide great improvement of oral absorption. The techniques to create the so-called supersaturation in the GI fluid include microemulsions, emulsions, liposomes, complexations, polymeric micelles, and conventional micelles. Ciprofloxacin was chosen because it is practically insoluble in water; hence its salt form is used commercially, which is soluble in water. The objective of the present investigation was to enhance the solubility of Ciprofloxacin by formulating it into microemulsion system. For this purpose, initially, surfactant and cosurfactant were selected based on their HLB value, followed by pseudo-ternary phase diagrams to identify the microemulsion existing zone. Different formulations were developed and evaluated for pH, conductivity, in vitro release and stability. Solubility study was performed for optimized formulation. The pH of the designed formulations varied from 6.02-7.04. This was ideal and near blood pH 7.4. Conductivity data indicated that the microemulsion was of the o/w type. In vitro release of optimized formulation(FM3) was 95.2% as compared to pure drug 46.61% after 90 min and marketed product(salt form) 93.9%. Hence, by formulating into microemulsion, the solubility of ciprofloxacin is significantly enhanced.