Proniosomes are dry formulation of water soluble carrier particles that are coated with surfactant and can be\r\nmeasured out as needed and hydrated to form niosomal dispersion. Nevirapine is a non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase\r\ninhibitor (NNRTI). The pharmacokinetic profile and intracellular metabolism of nevirapine provide a strong rationale for the\r\ndevelopment of novel drug delivery system. A proniosome based drug delivery system of nevirapine was planned for\r\ndevelopment and evaluation of proniosomes for vesicle size analysis, encapsulation efficiency, drug diffusion profiles,\r\nmorphological and stability studies. Proniosomes loaded nevirapine were prepared by slurry method using maltodextrin,\r\nnonionic surfactant span 40, cholesterol and other ingredients at different concentrations. All the proniosome formulations\r\nwere converted to niosomal suspensions and evaluated for drug content, vesicle size, encapsulation efficiency, morphological\r\nand stability studies, FTIR studies and in-vitro release studies. The preliminary compatibility studies revealed that there were no\r\ninteractions between nevirapine and excipients which was evident from FTIR. Span 40 was chosen as the surfactant of choice for\r\nproniosomal formulation by preliminary screening study. The physical characteristics of proniosome were found to be within\r\nthe acceptable limits. The vesicle size was found to in a range 142 nm to 234 nm and entrapment efficiency was found in range\r\nof 69% to 88%. The proniosomes were spherical and homogenous in structure when observed under scanning electron\r\nmicroscopy. The release from the proniosomes was prolonged when compared to conventional formulation. The stability\r\nstudies showed that proniosomes were stable at 5�±3�°C and 30�°C�±2�°C.
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