ABSTRACT
Spherical beads of poorly soluble drug, piroxicam were prepared by dispersing the drug in solutions of ionic polysaccharide sodium alginate and then dropping these dispersions into solution of the counterion calcium chloride. The droplets instantaneously formed gelled spheres by ionotropic gelation. Strong spherical beads could be prepared with high yield and a drug content approaching 100%. The flow properties of micronized rods like crystals were significantly improved by this agglomeration technique when compared with non-agglomerated drug crystals. In addition, scanning electron microscopy, size, image analysis, dissolution tests and compression properties were used to characterize the drug beads. Beads [B5] formulated using 1% sodium alginate and 3% calcium chloride gave the most preferable results as compared to other compositions