The aim was to formulate self-emulsifying drug delivery systems (SEDDS) to hasten dissolution and oral bioavailability of gliquidone (GLQ) as lipophilic oral hypoglycemic. In the developed formulations, cinnamon oil served as the oily phase, while Tween 20 and Transcutol® HP constituted the surfactant/cosurfactant system. A phase diagram was employed to select formulations showing transparent/translucent system after dispersion. These formulations were loaded with GLQ and subjected to in vitro dissolution studies relative to unprocessed GLQ. Optimum systems providing the fastest release were characterized for globule size and morphology. In addition, the in vivo hypoglycemic effect GLQ-loaded SEDDSs was assessed after oral administration to diabetic rats relative to GLQ aqueous dispersion (control). Optimized GLQ-loaded SEDDSs (3 formulations) displayed a significant improvement of dissolution rate as indicated from the amount dissolved after 5 min which recorded 72.83 %, 83.34 % and 92.38 %. Fast dissolution was parallel correlated with globule size values which were 335.4, 211.8 and 175.8 nm for the same formulations, respectively. Ultrafast dispersion and dissolution were revealed further in the in vivo hypoglycemic effect which was shown increasing the area under blood glucose reduction curve by 1.58, 1.61 and 2.11-fold after administration of the same formulation, compared with the control, respectively. Overall, the developed SEDDSs successfully enhanced both the dissolution rate and the bioavailability of GLQ.