  In the past decade, the discovery of active pharmaceutical substances with
high therapeutic value but poor aqueous solubility has increased, thus making
it challenging to formulate these compounds as oral dosage forms. The
bioavailability of these drugs can be increased by formulating these drugs as
an amorphous drug delivery system. Use of porous media like mesoporous silica
has been investigated as a potential means to increase the solubility of poorly
soluble drugs and to stabilize the amorphous drug delivery system. These
materials have nanosized capillaries and the large surface area which enable
the materials to accommodate high drug loading and promote the controlled and
fast release. Therefore, mesoporous silica has been used as a carrier in the
solid dispersion to form an amorphous solid dispersion (ASD). Mesoporous silica
is also being used as an adsorbent in a conventional solid dispersion, which
has many useful aspects. This review focuses on the use of mesoporous silica in
ASD as potential means to increase the dissolution rate and to provide or
increase the stability of the ASD. First, an overview of mesoporous silica and
the classification is discussed. Subsequently, methods of drug incorporation,
the stability of dispersion and, much more are discussed.
