Novel Applications of Modern Excipients in Advanced Pharmaceutical Products

A special issue of Pharmaceutics (ISSN 1999-4923). This special issue belongs to the section "Pharmaceutical Technology, Manufacturing and Devices".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 May 2024 | Viewed by 5598

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Chemische Fabrik Budenheim KG, Rheinstrasse 27, 55257 Budenheim, Germany
Interests: pharmaceutical technology; formulation development; direct compression; excipients; OSDF; improvement of drug solubility

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Guest Editor
Department of Pharmaceutical Technology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Medical University of Gdansk, al. gen. J. 12 Hallera 107, 80-416 Gdansk, Poland
Interests: pharmaceutical technology; oral dosage forms; skin penetration and permeation

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Guest Editor
Chemische Fabrik Budenheim KG, Rheinstrasse 27, 55257 Budenheim, Germany
Interests: pharmaceutical technology; formulation development; co-processed excipients; OSDF; continous manufacturing

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Practically every pharmaceutical product, whether in solid or liquid form, contains at least one excipient in addition to one or more active ingredients. Excipients are inert components, other than drug substances, which do not exert a pharmacological effect in the doses used. Nevertheless, they are essential in pharmaceutical formulations, ensuring easy and safe drug administration. Although most excipients are considered inert, they are often used for specific purposes. For example, in the field of technology of oral solid dosage forms, they facilitate technological processes such as granulation, tabletting, encapsulation, and give the final drug product the required physical properties, guaranteeing stability and efficacy.

Most scientists and formulation experts concentrate on drug substances, which are the most important components of medicinal preparations. In this Special Issue, we would like to more closely examine various excipients used in pharmaceutical technology, their solubility, rheological and functional characteristics, as well as their impact on the final product. Furthermore, we would like to explore the impact of origin and the method of production on their structure, morphology and physical, chemical, or functional characteristics. An interesting aspect is the constantly evolving quality and safety requirements (e.g., regarding nitrosamine or elemental impurities) as well as market trends (e.g., the demand for vegan, non-GMO, lactose-free products) and how contemporary excipients are responding to them.

Dr. Daniel Zakowiecki
Prof. Dr. Krzysztof Cal
Dr. Tobias Heß
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • pharmaceutical excipients
  • inactive ingredients
  • preformulation/formulation
  • drug-excipient compatibility
  • particle size, shape and morphology
  • oral solid dosage forms
  • solubility/dissolution rate
  • chemical and physical stability
  • manufacturing process

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

0 pages, 3470 KiB  
Article
Development of a Versatile Lipid Core for Nanostructured Lipid Carriers (NLCs) Using Design of Experiments (DoE) and Raman Mapping
by Carlos Alberto Rios, Roberta Ondei and Márcia Cristina Breitkreitz
Pharmaceutics 2024, 16(2), 250; https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmaceutics16020250 - 08 Feb 2024
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Abstract
The objective of this study was to develop a versatile lipid core for the ‘brick-dust type of drugs’ (poorly water-soluble and poorly lipid-soluble drugs). In the first step, excipients of different polarities were classified according to their behavior in aqueous solutions. Subsequently, binary [...] Read more.
The objective of this study was to develop a versatile lipid core for the ‘brick-dust type of drugs’ (poorly water-soluble and poorly lipid-soluble drugs). In the first step, excipients of different polarities were classified according to their behavior in aqueous solutions. Subsequently, binary mixtures were prepared with cetyl palmitate (Crodamol™ CP pharma, Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil) as the solid lipid, and its miscibility with other excipients was evaluated using Raman mapping and classical least squares (CLS). Based on the results, the excipients Crodamol™ CP pharma (hydrophobic), Super Refined™ DMI (dimethyl isosorbide; hydrophilic, Mill Hall, PA, USA), and Super Refined™ Lauryl Lactate (lauryl lactate, medium polarity, Mill Hall, PA, USA) were chosen to compose the lipid core. The ideal proportion of these excipients was determined using a mixture design and the standard deviation (STD) of image histograms as the response variables. After statistical evaluation of the DoE results, the final composition was determined, and drugs with different logP (0 to 10) and physicochemical characteristics were evaluated in the optimized mixture. The drugs butamben (Sigma-Aldrich Co., Spruce Street, St. Louis, MO, USA), tacrolimus (NutriFarm, São Paulo, Brazil), atorvastatin calcium, and resveratrol (Botica da Terra, Campinas, Brazil) presented a homogeneous distribution in the optimized lipid core, indicating that this is a promising system to be used in nanostructured lipid carrier (NLC) formulations of such types of drugs. Full article
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22 pages, 4600 KiB  
Article
The Impact of Various Poly(vinylpyrrolidone) Polymers on the Crystallization Process of Metronidazole
by Luiza Orszulak, Taoufik Lamrani, Magdalena Tarnacka, Barbara Hachuła, Karolina Jurkiewicz, Patryk Zioła, Anna Mrozek-Wilczkiewicz, Ewa Kamińska and Kamil Kamiński
Pharmaceutics 2024, 16(1), 136; https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmaceutics16010136 - 19 Jan 2024
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Abstract
In this paper, we propose one-step synthetic strategies for obtaining well-defined linear and star-shaped polyvinylpyrrolidone (linPVP and starPVP). The produced macromolecules and a commercial PVP K30 with linear topology were investigated as potential matrices for suppressing metronidazole (MTZ) crystallization. Interestingly, [...] Read more.
In this paper, we propose one-step synthetic strategies for obtaining well-defined linear and star-shaped polyvinylpyrrolidone (linPVP and starPVP). The produced macromolecules and a commercial PVP K30 with linear topology were investigated as potential matrices for suppressing metronidazole (MTZ) crystallization. Interestingly, during the formation of binary mixtures (BMs) containing different polymers and MTZ, we found that linear PVPs exhibit maximum miscibility with the drug at a 50:50 weight ratio (w/w), while the star-shaped polymer mixes with MTZ even at a 30:70 w/w. To explain these observations, comprehensive studies of MTZ-PVP formulations with various contents of both components were performed using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, and X-ray diffraction. The obtained results clearly showed that the polymer’s topology plays a significant role in the type of interactions occurring between the matrix and MTZ. Additionally, we established that for MTZ-PVP 50:50 and 75:25 w/w BMs, linear polymers have the most substantial impact on inhibiting the crystallization of API. The star-shaped macromolecule turned out to be the least effective in stabilizing amorphous MTZ at these polymer concentrations. Nevertheless, long-term structural investigations of the MTZ-starPVP 30:70 w/w system (which is not achievable for linear PVPs) demonstrated its complete amorphousness for over one month. Full article
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23 pages, 61374 KiB  
Article
The Exploitation of pH-Responsive Eudragit-Coated Mesoporous Silica Nanostructures in the Repurposing of Terbinafine Hydrochloride for Targeted Colon Cancer Inhibition: Design Optimization, In Vitro Characterization, and Cytotoxicity Assessment
by Mohammad H. Alyami, Abeer A. Musallam, Tarek M. Ibrahim, Mahmoud A. Mahdy, Hanan M. Elnahas and Reem A. Aldeeb
Pharmaceutics 2023, 15(12), 2677; https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmaceutics15122677 - 26 Nov 2023
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Abstract
Targeted drug delivery is achieving great success in cancer therapy due to its potential to deliver drugs directly to the action site. Terbinafine hydrochloride (TER) is a broad-spectrum anti-fungal drug that has been found to have some potential anti-tumor effects in the treatment [...] Read more.
Targeted drug delivery is achieving great success in cancer therapy due to its potential to deliver drugs directly to the action site. Terbinafine hydrochloride (TER) is a broad-spectrum anti-fungal drug that has been found to have some potential anti-tumor effects in the treatment of colon cancer. We aimed here to design and develop pH-sensitive Eudragit (Eud)-coated mesoporous silica nanostructures (MSNs) to control drug release in response to changes in pH. The diffusion-supported loading (DiSupLo) technique was applied for loading TER into the MSNs. The formulation was optimized by a D-optimal design, which permits the concurrent assessment of the influence of drug/MSN%, coat concentration, and MSN type on the drug entrapment efficiency (EE) and its release performance. The optimal formula displayed a high EE of 96.49%, minimizing the release in pH 1.2 to 16.15% and maximizing the release in pH 7.4 to 78.09%. The cytotoxicity of the optimal formula on the colon cancer cells HT-29 was higher than it was with TER alone by 2.8-fold. Apoptosis in cancer cells exposed to the optimum formula was boosted as compared to what it was with the plain TER by 1.2-fold and it was more efficient in arresting cells during the G0/G1 and S stages of the cell cycle. Accordingly, the repurposing of TER utilizing Eud/MSNs is a promising technique for targeted colon cancer therapy. Full article
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13 pages, 3777 KiB  
Article
Effect of Compaction Pressure on the Enzymatic Activity of Pancreatin in Directly Compressible Formulations
by Daniel Zakowiecki, Peter Edinger, Tobias Hess, Jadwiga Paszkowska, Marcela Staniszewska, Svitlana Romanova and Grzegorz Garbacz
Pharmaceutics 2023, 15(9), 2224; https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmaceutics15092224 - 29 Aug 2023
Viewed by 1383
Abstract
Tableting of biomolecules is a challenging formulation phase due to their sensitivity to various process parameters, such as compression pressure, process dynamics, or the temperature generated. In the present study, pancreatin was employed as a model enzyme mixture, which was formulated in tablet [...] Read more.
Tableting of biomolecules is a challenging formulation phase due to their sensitivity to various process parameters, such as compression pressure, process dynamics, or the temperature generated. In the present study, pancreatin was employed as a model enzyme mixture, which was formulated in tablet form utilizing the synergistic effects of brittle and plastic excipients (dibasic calcium phosphate and microcrystalline cellulose, respectively). The effect of varying compaction pressure and lubricant concentration on the generated temperature and enzymatic activity was evaluated. The tablets were analyzed for pancreatin content and the activity of two enzymes (protease and amylase) using pharmacopoeial tests. This study indicated that the formulations proposed here allow tableting over a wide range of compaction pressures without adversely affecting pancreatin content and its enzymatic activity. Full article
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