A novel amorphous preparation improved curcumin bioavailability in healthy volunteers: A single-dose, double-blind, two-way crossover study

Curcumin derived from Curcuma longa has beneficial pharmacological effects. However, its bioavailability is very low. To improve its bioavailability, we developed a novel amorphous formulation of curcumin, called curcuRougeTM. We investigated the bioavailability of curcuRougeTM and compared its efficiency with that of Theracurmin (R). Male Sprague-Dawley rats were orally administered curcuRougeTM or Theracurmin (R) (10 mg/kg of curcumin). Based on the area under the plasma concentration-time curve, the bioavailability of curcuRougeTM was 3.7-fold higher than that of Theracurmin (R) in rats. We performed a single-dose, double-blind, two-way crossover study to compare the bioavailability of curcuRougeTM and Theracurmin (R) (90 mg of curcumin) in 12 volunteers (8 males, 4 females). The bioavailability of curcuRougeTM was 3.4-fold higher than that of Theracurmin (R). curcuRougeTM achieved Cmax in a shorter time than Theracurmin (R) in both experiments. These findings indicate that curcuRougeTM, an amorphous formulation of curcumin, shows superior bioavailability to that of Theracurmin (R).

Automated summary

The amorphous formulation curcuRougeTM of curcumin demonstrated significantly higher bioavailability compared to Theracurmin(R) in both rat and human studies. Furthermore, curcuRougeTM reached Cmax faster than Theracurmin(R) in both experiments.