Formulation and Characterization of Etoricoxib Suppositories for the Management of Hemorrhoids

This study aimed to formulate and evaluate etoricoxib suppositories to improve patient compliance and drug efficacy in the management of hemorrhoids.

Suppositories were prepared using glycerin and gelatin. The prepared suppositories were evaluated for content uniformity, homogenization, hardness, weight variation, disintegration time, texture analysis, and in vitro drug release.

Hardness, weight variation, disintegration time, and content uniformity values were found in the range of 4.00±0.50 to 7.50±0.50 kg/cm³, 1.20±0.03 to 1.31±0.01 g, 11.00 to 19.05 min, and 66.98±0.86 to 80.76±3.60%, respectively. The SB3 gave 91.47±17.74% drug release in 6 h, whereas the SB1 gave 99.08±3.40% drug release in 12 h. Drug release from all formulations of suppositories was supported by zero-order, first-order, and Higuchi plots, except for SB4. The mechanism of drug release from all suppositories was fickian diffusion-based. The SB2 results were found to be more appropriate than those of the other batches.

These results confirm that the prepared formulation has a future scope and should be further explored in in vitro cell lines and animal studies.