Pharmaceutical Co-crystals: A Systematic Review

Low aqueous solubility and concomitant oral bioavailability are the major glitches found in converting the active pharmaceutical ingredients to new pharmaceutical products. Many methods are in existence to improve the solubility of poorly water-soluble drugs. Co-crystallization is one of the unique technique that aggregates two or more different chemical entities in a crystalline lattice via non-covalent bonding. Co-crystals are multi-component system of an active pharmaceutical ingredient and a conformer. They offer products with superior physico-chemical properties such as melting point, solubility, stability, bioavailability, compaction and permeability. This paper focuses on the utility of co crystals in promoting the solubility of the active pharmaceutical ingredient with special emphasis on the principle of co crystallization, methods of preparation and a survey on various cocrystal formulations and its application.