A Review on Novel Formulation Approaches of Azidothymidine

Azidothymidine (AZT or ZVD), a Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitor (NRTI), is used as antiviral medication to treat Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) which causes Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS). It is the first approved anti HIV drug for AIDS used either in combination with other antiretroviral agents or as a single drug and is also included in WHO’s national list of essential medicines 2011. Due to certain physico-chemical and pharmacokinetic constraints of the drug, various approaches are undertaken to improve the half life and bioavailability of ZVD. There are novel formulation approaches such as vaginal gels, bioadhesive film, niosomes, proniosomes, nanoparticles, microparticles etc. Certain researchers have reported different designs of ZVD with other antiretroviral drugs that are used for the combination therapy in the effective treatment of HIV. This review focus on the logistics of formulation designing along with an overview of report of the various analytical techniques employed for the estimation of the ZVD in pharmaceutical dosage forms.