Current Pharmaceutical Design - Volume 21, Issue 40, 2015

The flow of powders can often play a critical role in the manufacturing of pharmaceutical products. Many of these processes require good, consistent and predictable flow of powders to ensure continuous production of pharmaceutical dosages and to ensure their quality. Therefore, the flow of powders is of paramount importance to the pharmaceutical industry and thus the measuring and evaluating of powder flow is of utmost importance. At present, there are numerous methods in which the flow of powders can be measured. However, due to the complex and environment-dependant nature of powders, no one method exists that is capable of providing a complete picture of the behaviour of powders under dynamic conditions. Some of the most commonly applied methods to measure the flow of powders include: density indices, such as the Carr index and Hausner ratio, powder avalanching, the angle of repose (AOR), flow through an orifice, powder rheometry and shear cell testing.

The pharmaceutical industry still produces the vast majority of their products, from powdered ingredients, in the form of solid doses. Despite their ubiquity, powders are difficult materials to characterise and understand, as evidenced by the frequent problems encountered during manufacture. The reason for this is their complex rheological behaviour coupled with numerous environmental variations, such as humidity. Equally, the range of processes used to manipulate powders subject them to extremes of stress from high compaction loads seen in compactors to the dispersed state seen in fluidised bed dryers. Thus, it is evident that ensuring that the powders characteristics are compatible with the way they are to be processed is a clear prerequisite for today’s Quality by Design driven manufacturing. Modern, computer controlled instrumental techniques, including the dynamic, bulk and shear property measurements have enabled direct measurements of a powders response to aeration, consolidation and flow rate - all at low stresses - as well as quantifying shear and bulk properties (such as density, compressibility and permeability). In order to demonstrate how fully characterising a powder can be used in the design, operation and troubleshooting of processes, this paper will present examples of common pharmaceutical unit operations and the different powder characteristics that most influence the performance of each.

This review is intended to provide a critical account of the current goals and technologies of particle engineering regarding the production of crystalline and amorphous particles. The technologies discussed here cover traditional crystallization technologies, supercritical fluid technologies, spray drying, controlled solvent crystallization, and sonocrystallization. Also recent advancements in particle engineering including spray freezing into liquid, thin-film freeze-drying, PRINT technology are presented. The paper also examines the merits and limitations of these technologies with respect to their methods of characterization. Additionally a section discussing the utility of creating amorphous and crystalline formulation approaches in regards to bioavailability and utility in formulation is presented.

Cohesive powders are problematic in the manufacturing of pharmaceutical solid dosage forms because they exhibit poor flowability, fluidization and aerosolization. These undesirable bulk properties of cohesive powders represent a fundamental challenge in the design of efficient pharmaceutical manufacturing processes. Recently, mechanical dry coating has attracted increasing attention as it can improve the bulk properties of cohesive powders in a cheaper, simpler, safer and more environment-friendly way than the existing solvent-based counterparts. In this review, mechanical dry coating techniques are outlined and their potential applications in formulation and manufacturing of pharmaceutical solid dosage forms are discussed. Reported data from the literature have shown that mechanical dry coating holds promise for the design of superior pharmaceutical solid formulations or manufacturing processes by engineering the interfaces of cohesive powders in an efficient and economical way.

Various encapsulation techniques are known for pharmaceutical applications. Extrusion is of minor importance. However, extrusion is used to obtain granules with encapsulate liquid active ingredients (AI) like essential oils and flavours for food applications since decades. Many of these AIs can be used for agrochemical, home care, and pharmaceutical products, too. Thus, the focus of this review is on the interdisciplinary presentation and evaluation of the available knowledge about the encapsulation process via extrusion. The desired microcapsule structure is discussed at the outset. The microcapsule is compared to the alternative glassy solid solution system, before an overview of suitable excipients is given. In the next section the development of the extrusion technique, used for encapsulation processes, is presented. Thereby, the focus is on encapsulation using twin-screw extruders. Additionally, the influence of the downstream processes on the products is discussed, too. The understanding of the physical processes during extrusion is essential for specifically adjustment of the desired product properties and thus, highlighted in this paper. Unfortunately not all processes, especially the mixing process, are well studied. Suggestions for further studies, to improve process understanding and product quality, are given, too. The last part of this review focuses on the characterization of the obtained granules, especially AI content, encapsulation efficiency, and storage stability. In conclusion, extrusion is a standard technique for flavour encapsulation, but future studies, may lead to more (pharmaceutical) applications and new products.

Nanoparticle-based pharmaceutical products are currently finding their way onto the market as a popular strategy to improve the therapeutic efficacy of numerous drugs, hereunder medications for a targeted treatment of severe diseases (e.g., cancer). Drug-loaded polymer and lipid nanoparticles are typically produced via solventbased methods and result in colloidal suspensions, which often suffer from physical and chemical instability (e.g., formation of aggregates) resulting in loss of functionality. There are various ways to stabilize such nanoparticlebased formulations including addition of ionic materials to provide electrostatic repulsion or polymer materials forming a steric barrier between the particles. However, for long-term stability often water needs to be removed to obtain a dry product. For this purpose atomization-based techniques such as spray-drying and spray freeze-drying are frequently used to remove water from the nanoparticle suspensions and to form tailored powder products (e.g., nanoembedded microparticles (NEMs)). NEMs provide an excellent vehicle for both stabilization of nanoparticles and delivery of the nanoparticles to their intended site of action. Excipients such as sugars and biocompatible polymers are used to prepare the surrounding, stabilizing matrix. Further, these “Trojan” vehicles are compatible with a wide range of therapeutic molecules, nanocarriers and applications for different routes of administration. The preparation, properties and stability of these NEMs are described in this review and their application and future development are discussed.

The long-term stability of protein therapeutics in the solid-state depends on the preservation of native structure during lyophilization and in the lyophilized powder. Proteins can reversibly or irreversibly unfold upon lyophilization, acquiring conformations susceptible to degradation during storage. Therefore, characterizing proteins in the dried state is crucial for the design of safe and efficacious formulations. This review summarizes the basic principles and applications of the analytical techniques that are commonly used to characterize protein structure, dynamics and conformation in lyophilized solids. The review also discusses the applications of recently developed mass spectrometry based methods (solid-state hydrogen deuterium exchange mass spectrometry (ssHDX-MS) and solid-state photolytic labeling mass spectrometry (ssPL-MS)) and their ability to study proteins in the solid-state at high resolution.

Solid oral modified-release dosage forms provide numerous advantages for drug delivery compared to dosage forms where the drugs are released and absorbed rapidly following ingestion. Natural polymers are of particular interest as drug carriers due to their good safety profile, biocompatibility, biodegradability, and rich sources. This review described the current applications of important natural polymers, such as chitosan, alginate, pectin, guar gum, and xanthan gum, in solid oral modified-release dosage forms. It was shown that natural polymers have been widely used to fabricate solid oral modified-release dosage forms such as matrix tablets, pellets and beads, and especially oral drug delivery systems such as gastroretentive and colon drug delivery systems. Moreover, chemical modifications could overcome the shortcomings associated with the use of natural polymers, and the combination of two or more polymers presented further advantages compared with that of single polymer. In conclusion, natural polymers and modified natural polymers have promising applications in solid oral modified-release dosage forms. However, commercial products based on them are still limited. To accelerate the application of natural polymers in commercial products, in vivo behavior of natural polymers-based solid oral modified-release dosage forms should be deeply investigated, and meanwhile quality of the natural polymers should be controlled strictly, and the influence of formulation and process parameters need to be understood intensively.

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a chronic ailment of the lungs, exhibiting elevated arterial pressure and vascular resistance; with a mean arterial pressure above 25 mmHg at rest and above 30 mmHg during exercise. It is associated with poor prognosis, and its prevalence is estimated to be 15 cases per one million. The current treatment options for PAH are discussed with the prostanoid class of drugs being the most effective. The latter drugs act by dilating systemic and pulmonary arterial vascular beds and, with sustained long-term usage, altering pulmonary remodelling. They are administered as IV infusions or inhalation solutions. Despite their clinical effectiveness, prostanoids have short half-lives requiring frequent administration of 6-9 times daily and thus suffer from poor compliance. Controlled release inhalation delivery systems for treatment of PAH, ranging from liposomes, biodegradable nano and microparticles, formation of co-precipitates and complexation with cyclodextrins, are explored. Arising from these formulation strategies, we developed novel polymeric microspheres for inhalation to reduce dosing frequency and improve medication compliance. These microspheres are designed with release modifiers, to reside in the lung which is the site of drug action for a longer duration so as to release the drug slowly and consistently over a prolonged period. This could lead to the development of the first commercially available controlled release inhalation product.

Tablets represent the preferred and most commonly dispensed pharmaceutical dosage form for administering active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). Minimizing the cost of goods and improving manufacturing output efficiency has motivated companies to use direct compression as a preferred method of tablet manufacturing. Excipients dictate the success of direct compression, notably by optimizing powder formulation compactability and flow, thus there has been a surge in creating excipients specifically designed to meet these needs for direct compression. Greater scientific understanding of tablet manufacturing coupled with effective application of the principles of material science and particle engineering has resulted in a number of improved direct compression excipients. Despite this, significant practical disadvantages of direct compression remain relative to granulation, and this is partly due to the limitations of direct compression excipients. For instance, in formulating high-dose APIs, a much higher level of excipient is required relative to wet or dry granulation and so tablets are much bigger. Creating excipients to enable direct compression of high-dose APIs requires the knowledge of the relationship between fundamental material properties and excipient functionalities. In this paper, we review the current understanding of the relationship between fundamental material properties and excipient functionality for direct compression.

It is rare to have a pharmaceutical dosage form presented with just the pure active pharmaceutical ingredient because the drug substance does not possess adequately desirable physical attributes to be processed into the final dosage form. Consequently, additives or excipients which are inert ingredients serving a functional purpose are added to enhance the overall properties of the final formulation for ease of processability or drug product performance. Variability in excipients arises from source of raw materials and in synthesis/manufacturing process resulting in different mechanisms of action, optimum concentration for use and final product performance including drug-excipient interactions. Unsurprisingly, variability of excipients has been well researched within specific focus areas. This review article aims to look at how different pharmaceutical processes are influenced by the differences in excipient properties as well as advanced analytical and statistical modeling techniques used in their development and characterization.

Adhesive mixtures for inhalation are the most widely used type of formulation in dry powder inhalation products. Although they have been the subject of active research, the relationships between properties of the starting materials, the mixing and dispersion processes, and the dispersion performance of this type of formulation are generally poorly understood. Interactions between relevant variables have been mentioned as an important cause. By reviewing the effects on mixture dispersion performance of the most widely studied formulation variables we try to find out whether or not the understanding of adhesive mixtures has improved in recent years. We furthermore propose an approach that may potentially accelerate the process of understanding. General conclusions concerning the effects of the variables considered cannot be drawn, because inconsistent findings are reported throughout the literature for all of them. These inconsistencies are indeed largely the result of interactions between variables of the formulation and dispersion processes. Mechanisms for most of the observed effects and interactions have been proposed, but they often remain unproven and, therefore, speculative. We have attempted to condense the knowledge from the literature into a theoretical framework that is intended to help explain the interplay between variables. According to this framework, only few mixture properties are key to understanding the effects of and interactions between formulation variables. Therefore, we suggest that the development or optimisation of techniques to accurately characterise these mixture properties could be an effective approach to further the fundamental understanding of adhesive mixtures for inhalation and enable their rational engineering.

Numerical modelling using computational fluid mechanics (CFD) and discrete element method (DEM) becomes increasingly prevalent for the exploration of agglomeration and deagglomeration in dry powder inhalers (DPIs). These techniques provide detailed information on air flow and particle-particle/wall interaction, respectively. Coupling of CFD and DEM enables an in-depth investigation of the mechanisms at the microscopic level. This paper reviews the applications of CFD and DEM in DPI development and optimisation. The recent progress in modelling of two key processes in DPIs, i.e. agglomeration and deagglomeration, is presented. It has been demonstrated that DEM-CFD is a promising numerical approach to investigate the underlying agglomeration and deagglomeration mechanisms for DPIs. With further advances in computing capacity, it is expected that DEM-CFD will be capable of addressing more realistic and complicated issues in DPI improvement.

Manufacturing of pharmaceutical solids involves different unit operations and processing steps such as powder blending, fluidization, sieving, powder coating, pneumatic conveying and spray drying. During these operations, particles come in contact with other particles, different metallic, glass or polymer surfaces and can become electrically charged. Electrostatic charging often gives a negative connotation as it creates sticking, jamming, segregation or other issues during tablet manufacturing, capsule filling, film packaging and other pharmaceutical operations. A thorough and fundamental appreciation of the current knowledge of mechanisms and the potential outcomes is essential in order to minimize potential risks resulting from this phenomenon. The intent of this review is to discuss the electrostatic properties of pharmaceutical powders, equipment surfaces and devices affecting pharmaceutical processing and product performance. Furthermore, the underlying mechanisms responsible for the electrostatic charging are described and factors affecting electrostatic charging have been reviewed in detail. Feasibility of different methods used in the laboratory and pharmaceutical industry to measure charge propensity and decay has been summarized. Different computational and experimental methods studied have proven that the particle charging is a very complex phenomenon and control of particle charging is extremely important to achieve reliable manufacturing and reproducible product performance.