Quality by design approach of a pharmaceutical gel manufacturing process, part 1: Determination of the design space

Design and optimization of a novel herbosomal-loaded PEG-poloxamer topical formulation for the treatment of cold injuries: a quality-by-design approach

The spectrum of cold injuries ranges from frostnip, chilblains to severe frostbite. Cold injuries occur upon prolonged exposure to freezing temperature and are pathologically a combination of ice crystal formation in the tissue resulting in inflammation, thrombosis and ischemia in the extremities, often necessitating limb amputation in extreme cases due to tissue necrosis. Severe forms of frostbite are a cause of major concern to patients as well as the treating physician. Due to the lack of effective treatment modalities and paucity of research on prophylaxis and therapeutics of cold injuries, we developed a novel herbosomal-loaded PEG-poloxamer topical formulation (n-HPTF) employing quality-by-design (QBD) approach. Natural compounds exhibiting potent therapeutic potential for the management of cold injuries were incorporated in novel lipid vesicles (herbosomes) loaded in PEG-poloxamer polymers. The herbosomal formulation effectively creates an occlusion barrier that promotes epithelial regeneration, desmosome scale-up and angiogenesis and thus promotes rapid healing, indicating controlled release of herbosomes. Optimized novel herbosomes showed entrapment efficiency > 90% and < 300 nm mean particle size and in vitro drug permeation of about 2 µg/cm² followed Higuchi's release kinetics. Skin irritancy study on female Sprague-Dawley rats showed no edema or erythema. In vivo bio-efficacy study revealed significant efficacy (p < 0.05) when compared to the standard treatment groups. Graphical abstract presenting the designing and optimization of novel herbosomal-loaded PEG-poloxamer topical formulation (n-HPTF) and predictive model for the in vivo study of the developed n-HPTF on cold injury rat skin model.

The Identification of Quality Risk Factors for Non-biological Complex Drugs and Epilepsy Drugs Using Statistical Analysis of Formulation-Based Recalls in the USA

Pharmaceutical companies use the quality by design (QbD) approach to build high-quality drug products. A thorough understanding of risk factors is required to successfully employ QbD. In order to better understand risk factors that potentially impact drug product quality and inform future QbD approaches, we hypothesized root causes of drug product recalls based on publicly available data and a retroactive analysis of drug products recalled by the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) from 2012 to 2018. We focused on two categories of drug products that pose unique regulatory challenges and an increased risk of shortage that could hinder the adequate supply of quality medicine to the patient. Knowing the significant risk factors from previous drug product recalls can help inform QbD and avoid future recalls. Quality recall reasons were studied individually to find risk factors associated with each recall category. Logistical regression statistical tests were done in R using a significance level of 0.05 to find correlations between a recalled product and its manufacturing information such as excipients and manufacturing steps. The results showed significant positive and negative correlations, such as products containing magnesium stearate are more likely to be recalled for impurities and degradation. This information could be used in the future to inform the design and manufacturing of drug products, ensuring consumers receive high-quality products with a low risk of recall.

Formulation Development, In Vitro and In Vivo Evaluation of Topical Hydrogel Formulation of Econazole Nitrate-Loaded β-Cyclodextrin Nanosponges

Econazole nitrate, an antifungal drug used in the handling of skin ailments, is commercially not efficient as these ailments typically require a more elevated concentration of the drug to offer an effective pharmacological retort. Like so, it is proposed to assess the effectiveness of the topical hydrogel of econazole-loaded nanosponge in the management of skin ailment(s). Econazole nitrate-laden β-cyclodextrin nanosponges were developed by employing the melt method using β-cyclodextrin as the organic polymer and N,N-carbonyldiimidazole as the crosslinker. The critical factors disturbing the quality of the formulation were uniquely identified by the Ishikawa diagram, and they were optimized by the statistical experiment design concept. β-cyclodextrin loaded nanosponges were uniquely designed using the Placket-Burman approach and optimized utilizing the Box-Behnken method. The optimized nanosponges (EN-CDN) were  421.37 ± 6.19 nm in size with an entrapment efficiency of 70.13% ± 5.73%. The topical hydrogel of nanosponges (EN-TG) was prepared using carbopol 934 and pyrrolidone as permeation enhancers. In vitro skin permeation studies affirmed the improved transport crosswise the goatskin for topical hydrogel in comparison to the marketed product. EN-TG was able to control the fungal infection in the selected animal model in comparison to the marketed preparation. Stability studies reported favorably that nanogel remained stable under normal and accelerated settings.

Progressing Towards the Sustainable Development of Cream Formulations

This work aims at providing the assumptions to assist the sustainable development of cream formulations. Specifically, it envisions to rationalize and predict the effect of formulation and process variability on a 1% hydrocortisone cream quality profile, interplaying microstructure properties with product performance and stability. This tripartite analysis was supported by a Quality by Design approach, considering a three-factor, three-level Box-Behnken design. Critical material attributes and process parameters were identified from a failure mode, effects, and criticality analysis. The impact of glycerol monostearate amount, isopropyl myristate amount, and homogenization rate on relevant quality attributes was estimated crosswise. The significant variability in product droplet size, viscosity, thixotropic behavior, and viscoelastic properties demonstrated a noteworthy influence on hydrocortisone release profile (112 ± 2–196 ± 7 μg/cm²/√h) and permeation behavior (0.16 ± 0.03–0.97 ± 0.08 μg/cm²/h), and on the assay, instability index and creaming rate, with values ranging from 81.9 to 120.5%, 0.031 ± 0.012 to 0.28 ± 0.13 and from 0.009 ± 0.000 to 0.38 ± 0.07 μm/s, respectively. The release patterns were not straightforwardly correlated with the permeation behavior. Monitoring the microstructural parameters, through the balanced adjustment of formulation and process variables, is herein highlighted as the key enabler to predict cream performance and stability. Finally, based on quality targets and response constraints, optimal working conditions were successfully attained through the establishment of a design space.

Quality by Design: Development of the Quality Target Product Profile (QTPP) for Semisolid Topical Products

In recent years, the "quality by design" (QbD) approach has been used for developing pharmaceutical formulations. This is particularly important for complex dosage forms such as topical semisolid products. The first step for developing a product using this efficient approach is defining the quality target product profile (QTPP), a list of quality attributes (QAs) that are required to be present in the final product. These quality attributes are affected by the ingredients used as well as manufacturing procedure parameters. Hence, critical material attributes (CMAs) and critical process parameters (CPPs) need to be specified. Possible failure modes of a topical semisolid product can be determined based on the physiochemical properties of ingredients and manufacturing procedures. In this review, we have defined and specified QTPP, QAs, CMAs and CPPs that are required for developing a topical semisolid product based on the QbD approach.

Formulation and Evaluation of Neuroactive Drug Loaded Chitosan Nanoparticle for Nose to Brain Delivery: In-vitro Characterization and In-vivo Behavior Study

BACKGROUND

The present work was designed to explore the efficacy of neuroactive drug (risperidone) loaded chitosan lipid nanoparticle (RIS-CH-LNPs) to enhance the bioactivity in schizophrenia via the nasal route.

METHODS

The three-factor and three-level formulation by design approach was used for optimization and their effects were observed on (Y1) size in nm, (Y2) % drug loading, and (Y3) % drug release. The optimized formulation RIS-CH-LNPopt was further evaluated for its surface morphology, ex-vivo permeation study, in-vivo behavior study, and stability study. The developed RIS-CH-LNPs showed nanometric size range with high drug loading and prolonged drug release.

RESULTS

The optimized formulation (RIS-CH-LNPopt) has shown the particle size (132.7 nm), drug loading (7.6 %), drug release (80.7 %) and further ex-vivo permeation study showed 2.32 fold enhancement over RIS-SUS(suspension). In-vivo behavior studies showed that RIS-CH-LNPopt is able to show significant greater bioefficacy as compared to RIS-SUS [intranasal (i.n), intravenous (i.v)]. The pharmacokinetic and brain/plasma ratio of developed chitosan nanoparticle was higher at all time-points as compared to RIS-SUS either given by intranasal or intravenous route that proves the direct nose to brain transport pathway of the drug via nasal administration. The developed chitosan nanoparticle increases nose to brain drug delivery as compared to the dispersion of equivalent dose.

CONCLUSION

The findings of this study substantiate the existence of a direct nose-to-brain delivery route for RIS-CH-LNPs.

Multivariate Analysis and Statistics in Pharmaceutical Process Research and Development

The application of statistics in pharmaceutical process research and development has evolved significantly over the past decades, motivated in part by the introduction of the Quality by Design paradigm, a landmark change in regulatory expectations for the level of scientific understanding associated with the manufacturing process. Today, statistical methods are increasingly applied to accelerate the characterization and optimization of new drugs created via numerous unit operations well known to the chemical engineering discipline. We offer here a review of the maturity in the implementation of design of experiment techniques, the increased incorporation of latent variable methods in process and material characterization, and the adoption of Bayesian methodology for process risk assessment.

A quality by design approach to understand formulation and process variability in pharmaceutical melt extrusion processes

Objectives

In this study, the principles of quality by design (QbD) have been uniquely applied to a pharmaceutical melt extrusion process for an immediate release formulation with a low melting model drug, ibuprofen.

Methods

Two qualitative risk assessment tools – Fishbone diagram and failure mode effect analysis – were utilized to strategically narrow down the most influential parameters. Selected variables were further assessed using a Plackett-Burman screening study, which was upgraded to a response surface design consisting of the critical factors to study the interactions between the study variables. In process torque, glass transition temperature (Tg) of the extrudates, assay, dissolution and phase change were measured as responses to evaluate the critical quality attributes (CQAs) of the extrudates. The effect of each study variable on the measured responses was analysed using multiple regression for the screening design and partial least squares for the optimization design.

Key findings

Experimental limits for formulation and process parameters to attain optimum processing have been outlined. A design space plot describing the domain of experimental variables within which the CQAs remained unchanged was developed.

Conclusions

A comprehensive approach for melt extrusion product development based on the QbD methodology has been demonstrated. Drug loading concentrations between 40- 48%w/w and extrusion temperature in the range of 90–130°C were found to be the most optimum.

Generic development of topical dermatologic products, Part II: quality by design for topical semisolid products

The emergence of quality by design as a relatively new systematic science and risk-based approach has added a new dimension to pharmaceutical development and manufacturing. This review attempts to discuss the quality by design elements and concepts applied for topical semisolid products. Quality by design begins with defining a quality target product profile as well as critical quality attributes. Subsequently, this is followed by risk identification/risk analysis/risk evaluation to recognize critical material attributes and critical process parameters, in conjunction with design of experiments or other appropriate methods to establish control strategies for the drug product. Several design-of-experiment examples are included as practical strategies for the development and optimization of formulation and process for topical drug products.