The purpose of this work was to investigate the influence of the base on the rate of meloxicam release from rectal suppositories. They were made using lipophilic (Oleum Cacao and Witespol H15) and hydrophilic (polyethylene glycols, PEG) bases. Suppositories underwent physicochemical tests according to the requirements of Polish PharmacopoeiaVIII. All the suppositories which were made and later tested, fulfilled the pharmacopoeial requirements.

In vitro test showed a significantly higher pharmaceutical availability of meloxicam from the suppositories made from hydrophilic bases. After 120 minutes of test, 95% of meloxicam from that base was released into the phosphate buffer. The release from the suppositories made on lipophilic bases was much slower and equaled 23,4% for Oleum Cacao and 36% for Witespol H15 respectively