Gelucire: A flexible formulation excipients

The utility of lipid-based oral formulations has been familiar for many years. There are an enormous variety of polymeric materials used to modify the delivery platform along with enhancement of therapeutic efficacy. Gelucires are a family of lipid-based excipients comprising of glycerides and esters of polyethylene glycol, these two components conferring hydrophobic and hydrophilic properties to the vehicle. Gelucire is used to enhance the drug’s physicochemical properties, as well as controlled release matrices. This review intends to give a critical overview of the published literature on the properties, chemical nature, advantages over other polymers, methods of characterization of gelucire containing formulations, applications and patents containing various grades of gelucires.