A review on self-nano emulsifying drug delivery systems (snedds)

Lipid based drug delivery formulations have been widely reported in the literature for improving drug solubility, permeability and bioavailability. The systems involve simple oil solutions, multiple, dry and coarse emulsions, nano, micro emulsifying systems and complex emulsifying drug delivery systems. Self-emulsifying systems are further classified as-SNEDDS, SMEDDS which are widely prevailing and commercially viable oil-based approach for those drugs which exhibit low rate of dissolution and inadequate absorption. Since development of SNEDDS, researchers drew interest in this field to deal with challenges of poorly hydrophilic drugs. SNEDDS is an established method for increasing solubility and bioavailability of lipophilic compounds. Due to their large scale production and robustness of SNEDDS, they show improved patient compliance with high drug loading capacity. The presence of biocompatible and biodegradable ingredients along with drug targeting opportunities allow SNEDDS to be used in solubility enhancement techniques. In this article, an attempt was made to give an overview of SNEDDS, formulation excipients, mechanism along with recent advancements, their advantages, disadvantages, applications and future perspectives.