LAUSR

&NA; One of the main obstacles to the successful treatment of tuberculosis is the poor and variable oral bioavailability of rifampicin (RIF), which is mainly due to its low hydrophilicity and dissolution rate. The aim of this work was to obtain a hydrophilic new material that allows a very fast dissolution rate of RIF and therefore is potentially useful in the development of oral solid dosage forms. The acid form of carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) was co‐processed with RIF by solvent impregnation to obtain CMC‐RIF powder, which was characterized by polarized optical microscopy, powder x‐ray diffraction, DSC‐TGA, hot stage microscopy, 13C and 15N solid‐state NMR and FT‐IR spectroscopy. In addition, the CMC‐RIF matrices were subjected to water uptake and dissolution studies to assess hydrophilicity and release kinetics. CMC‐RIF is a crystalline solid dispersion. Solid‐state characterization indicated that no ionic interaction occurred between the components, but RIF crystallized as a zwitterion over the surface of CMC, which drastically increased the hydrophilicity of the solid. The CMC‐RIF matrices significantly improved the water uptake of RIF and disintegrated in a very short period immediately releasing RIF. As CMC improves the hydrophilicity and delivery properties of RIF, CMC‐RIF is very useful in the design of oral solid dosage forms with very fast dissolution of RIF, either alone or in combination with other antitubercular drugs. Graphical abstract Figure. No caption available.