BACKGROUND: Drug-loaded electrospun ultrafine fibers have the advantages of both nanoscale drug delivery systems and conventional solid dosage forms. To improve the control of drug release, the combined use of electrospinning and pharmaceutical polymers has attracted increasing interest recently. RESULTS: Ultrafine drug-loaded polyvinylpyrrolidone fibers were successfully prepared using an electrospinning process with ibuprofen as the active pharmaceutical ingredient and polyvinylpyrrolidone K30 as the filament-forming polymer. The analytical results from scanning electron microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy indicated that the drug had good compatibility with the polymer and that the drug was well distributed in the ultrafine fibers as an amorphous physical form. In vitro dissolution tests showed that the fiber mats were able to dissolve within 10 s through a polymer-controlled mechanism. CONCLUSION: The fast dissolution of drug-loaded fibers may lead to applications that improve dissolution rates of poorly water-soluble drugs, or that involve the preparation of oral fast-dissolving drug delivery systems. (c) 2009 Society of Chemical Industry