Antisolvent crystallisation is a potential technique to prepare engineered lactose with promising aerosolisation properties: effect of saturation degree

A Review on Micro and Nanoengineering in Powder-Based Pulmonary Drug Delivery

Pulmonary delivery of drugs has emerged as a promising approach for the treatment of both lung and systemic diseases. Compared to other drug delivery routes, inhalation offers numerous advantages including high targeting, fewer side effects, and a huge surface area for drug absorption. However, the deposition of drugs in the lungs can be limited by lung defence mechanisms such as mucociliary and macrophages' clearance. Among the delivery devices, dry powder inhalers represent the optimal choice due to their stability, ease of use, and absence of propellants. In the last decades, several bottom-up techniques have emerged over traditional milling to produce inhalable powders. Among these techniques, the most employed ones are spray drying, supercritical fluid technology, spray freeze-drying, and thin film freezing. Inhalable dry powders can be constituted by micronized drugs attached to a coarse carrier (e.g., lactose) or drugs embedded into a micro- or nanoparticle. Particulate-based formulations are commonly composed of polymeric micro- and nanoparticles, liposomes, solid lipid nanoparticles, dendrimers, nanocrystals, extracellular vesicles, and inorganic nanoparticles. Moreover, engineered formulations including large porous particles, swellable microparticles, nano-in-microparticles, and effervescent nanoparticles have been developed. Particle engineering has also a crucial role in tuning the physical-chemical properties of both carrier-based and carrier-free inhalable powders. This approach can increase powder flowability, deposition, and targeting by customising particle surface features.

Drug combinations for inhalation: Current products and future development addressing disease control and patient compliance

Pulmonary delivery is an alternative route of administration with numerous advantages over conventional routes of administration. It provides low enzymatic exposure, fewer systemic side effects, no first-pass metabolism, and concentrated drug amounts at the site of the disease, making it an ideal route for the treatment of pulmonary diseases. Owing to the thin alveolar-capillary barrier, and large surface area that facilitates rapid absorption to the bloodstream in the lung, systemic delivery can be achieved as well. Administration of multiple drugs at one time became urgent to control chronic pulmonary diseases such as asthma and COPD, thus, development of drug combinations was proposed. Administration of medications with variable dosages from different inhalers leads to overburdening the patient and may cause low therapeutic intervention. Therefore, products that contain combined drugs to be delivered via a single inhaler have been developed to improve patient compliance, reduce different dose regimens, achieve higher disease control, and boost therapeutic effectiveness in some cases. This comprehensive review aimed to highlight the growth of drug combinations by inhalation over time, obstacles and challenges, and the possible progress to broaden the current options or to cover new indications in the future. Moreover, various pharmaceutical technologies in terms of formulation and device in correlation with inhaled combinations were discussed in this review. Hence, inhaled combination therapy is driven by the need to maintain and improve the quality of life for patients with chronic respiratory diseases; promoting drug combinations by inhalation to a higher level is a necessity.

Surface Modification of lactose carrier particles using a fluid bed coater to improve fine particle fraction for dry powder inhalers

Surface roughness of carrier particles can impact dry powder inhaler (DPI) performance. There are opposing views on the effect of roughness on DPI performance. Hence, a systematic approach is needed to modify carrier surfaces and evaluate the impact on drug delivery. Carrier particle surfaces were modified by fluid bed coating with saturated lactose containing micronized lactose of different sizes (2, 5 and 8 μm) and coated to different levels (20, 40, 60 and 80%). Their drug delivery performance was assessed by the fine particle fraction (FPF). Roughness parameters, mean arithmetic roughness (R_a) and arithmetic mean height (S_a), of the carrier particles, were also evaluated using optical profilometry and scanning laser microscopy. Generally, particles of higher R_a had higher FPF. Higher S_a resulted in higher FPF only for particles with 60 and 80% coat levels. Reduced contact surface area between the drug particle and rougher carrier particle resulted in easier drug detachment during aerosolization. The 5 µm micronized lactose produced optimal carrier particles with respect to FPF and surface roughness. The study highlighted that with the ideal particles for surface roughening and coating level, surface roughening could be efficiently achieved by fluid bed coating for superior DPI performance.

Effect of USP Induction Ports, Glass Sampling Apparatus, and Inhaler Device Resistance on Aerodynamic Patterns of Fluticasone Propionate-Loaded Engineered Mannitol Microparticles

The present investigation is to study the effect of two different induction ports (IP), i.e., USP IP and USP-modified IP equipped with andersen cascade impactor on in vitro aerodynamic performance along with the impact of USP-modified glass sampling apparatus on delivered dose uniformity of fluticasone propionate (FP) dry powder inhaler (DPI). FP DPI was fabricated by spray drying technique using engineered mannitol microparticles (EMP) with different force controlling agents, i.e., leucine and magnesium stearate. Additionally, commercially available two DPI inhaler devices namely Handihaler® and Breezhaler® were used to aerosolize the FP blends. Spherical smooth surface of EMP showed good powder flow properties and acceptable percentage content uniformity (> 95%). Amounts of FP deposited in cascade assembly using USP-modified IP with the Breezhaler® device was significantly higher (1.32-fold) as compared with the Handihaler® device. Moreover, USP-modified IP showed better deposition as compared with USP IP. Additionally, both inhaler devices showed a satisfactory delivered dose (> 105%) for FP using modified glass sampling apparatus at a flow rate of 60 L/min for 2 s. It was interesting to note that not only formulation properties but also IP geometry and device resistance have significant impact on DPI deposition pattern. This study is a first detailed account of aerodynamic performance of FP using USP-modified IP and USP-modified glass sampling apparatus. Thus, it can be of potential importance for both the academic and industry perspective.

Imagine the Superiority of Dry Powder Inhalers from Carrier Engineering

Inhalation therapy has strong history of more than 4000 years and it is well recognized around the globe within every culture. In early days, inhalation therapy was designed for treatment of local disorders such as asthma and other pulmonary diseases. Almost all inhalation products composed a simple formulation of a carrier, usually α-lactose monohydrate orderly mixed with micronized therapeutic agent. Most of these formulations lacked satisfactory pulmonary deposition and dispersion. Thus, various alternative carrier's molecules and powder processing techniques are increasingly investigated to achieve suitable aerodynamic performance. In view of this fact, more suitable and economic alternative carrier's molecules with advanced formulation strategies are discussed in the present review. Furthermore, major advances, challenges, and the future perspective are discussed.

On the effects of blending, physicochemical properties, and their interactions on the performance of carrier-based dry powders for inhalation - A review

Blending drug and carrier powders to produce homogeneous drug-carrier adhesive mixtures is a key step in the production of dry powder inhaler (DPI) formulations. Although the blending conditions can result in different conclusions or probably change the outcome of a study entirely if being selected differently, there is a scarcity of data on the influence of blending processes on the physicochemical properties of bulk powder formulations and the follow-on effects on DPI performance. This paper provides an overview of the interactions between variables related to blending conditions (e.g. blending equipment, time, speed and sequence as well as environmental humidity) and powder physicochemical properties (e.g. size distribution, shape distribution, density, anomeric composition, electrostatic charge, surface, and bulk properties), and their effects on the performance of adhesive mixtures for inhalation in terms of drug content homogeneity, drug-carrier adhesion, and drug aerosolisation behaviour. The relevance of carrier payload, batch size and segregation was also discussed. Challenges and future directions were identified. This review therefore contributes towards a better understanding of the blending process, powder physicochemical properties, and their interlinked effects on the fundamental understanding of adhesive mixtures for inhalation. The knowledge gained is essential to ensure optimum blending and thereby controlled functionality of DPIs.

Influence of physical properties of carrier on the performance of dry powder inhalers

Dry powder inhalers (DPIs) offer distinct advantages as a means of pulmonary drug delivery and have attracted much attention in the field of pharmaceutical science. DPIs commonly contain micronized drug particles which, because of their cohesiveness and strong propensity to aggregate, have poor aerosolization performance. Thus carriers with a larger particle size are added to address this problem. However, the performance of DPIs is profoundly influenced by the physical properties of the carrier, particularly their particle size, morphology/shape and surface roughness. Because these factors are interdependent, it is difficult to completely understand how they individually influence DPI performance. The purpose of this review is to summarize and illuminate how these factors affect drug–carrier interaction and influence the performance of DPIs.

The role of a mixture of DMSO : water in the crystallization of α-lactose monohydrate (α-LM) single crystals with desired morphology

In this study, DMSO–water solvent mixtures (from 10 to 90% v/v) were used for the growth of alpha-lactose monohydrate (α-LM) single crystals.

Dry powder inhalers: physicochemical and aerosolization properties of several size-fractions of a promising alterative carrier, freeze-dried mannitol

The purpose of this work was to evaluate the physicochemical and inhalation characteristics of different size fractions of a promising carrier, i.e., freeze-dried mannitol (FDM). FDM was prepared and sieved into four size fractions. FDMs were then characterized in terms of micromeritic, solid-state and bulk properties. Dry powder inhaler (DPI) formulations were prepared using salbutamol sulphate (SS) and then evaluated in terms of drug content homogeneity and in vitro aerosolization performance. The results showed that the crystalline state of mannitol was maintained following freeze-drying for all size fractions of FDM. All FDM particles showed elongated morphology and contained mixtures of α-, β- and δ-mannitol. In comparison to small FDM particles, FDMs with larger particle sizes demonstrated narrower size distributions, higher bulk and tap densities, lower porosities and better flowability. Regardless of particle size, all FDMs generated a significantly higher (2.2-2.9-fold increase) fine particle fraction (FPF, 37.5 ± 0.9%-48.6 ± 2.8%) of SS in comparison to commercial mannitol. The FPFs of SS were related to the shape descriptors of FDM particles; however, FPFs did not prove quantitative apparent relationships with either particle size or powder bulk descriptors. Large FDM particles were more favourable than smaller particles because they produced DPI formulations with better flowability, better drug content homogeneity, lower amounts of the drug depositing on the throat and contained lower fine-particle-mannitol. Optimized stable DPI formulations with superior physicochemical and pharmaceutical properties can be achieved using larger particles of freeze-dried mannitol (FDM).

Liquid crystalline phase as a probe for crystal engineering of lactose: carrier for pulmonary drug delivery

The current work was undertaken to assess suitability of liquid crystalline phase for engineering of lactose crystals and their utility as a carrier in dry powder inhalation formulations. Saturated lactose solution was poured in molten glyceryl monooleate which subsequently transformed into gel. The gel microstructure was analyzed by PPL microscopy and SAXS. Lactose particles recovered from gels after 48 h were analyzed for polymorphism using techniques such as FTIR, XRD, DSC and TGA. Particle size, morphology and aerosolisation properties of prepared lactose were analyzed using Anderson cascade impactor. In situ seeding followed by growth of lactose crystals took place in gels with cubic microstructure as revealed by PPL microscopy and SAXS. Elongated (size ∼ 71 μm) lactose particles with smooth surface containing mixture of α and β-lactose was recovered from gel, however percentage of α-lactose was more as compared to β-lactose. The aerosolisation parameters such as RD, ED, %FPF and % recovery of lactose recovered from gel (LPL) were found to be comparable to Respitose® ML001. Thus LC phase (cubic) can be used for engineering of lactose crystals so as to obtain particles with smooth surface, high elongation ratio and further they can be used as carrier in DPI formulations.

Crystallization in lactose refining-a review

In the dairy industry, crystallization is an important separation process used in the refining of lactose from whey solutions. In the refining operation, lactose crystals are separated from the whey solution through nucleation, growth, and/or aggregation. The rate of crystallization is determined by the combined effect of crystallizer design, processing parameters, and impurities on the kinetics of the process. This review summarizes studies on lactose crystallization, including the mechanism, theory of crystallization, and the impact of various factors affecting the crystallization kinetics. In addition, an overview of the industrial crystallization operation highlights the problems faced by the lactose manufacturer. The approaches that are beneficial to the lactose manufacturer for process optimization or improvement are summarized in this review. Over the years, much knowledge has been acquired through extensive research. However, the industrial crystallization process is still far from optimized. Therefore, future effort should focus on transferring the new knowledge and technology to the dairy industry.

Three-dimensional DEM-CFD analysis of air-flow-induced detachment of API particles from carrier particles in dry powder inhalers

Air flow and particle–particle/wall impacts are considered as two primary dispersion mechanisms for dry powder inhalers (DPIs). Hence, an understanding of these mechanisms is critical for the development of DPIs. In this study, a coupled DEM–CFD (discrete element method–computational fluid dynamics) is employed to investigate the influence of air flow on the dispersion performance of the carrier-based DPI formulations. A carrier-based agglomerate is initially formed and then dispersed in a uniformed air flow. It is found that air flow can drag API particles away from the carrier and those in the downstream air flow regions are prone to be dispersed. Furthermore, the influence of the air velocity and work of adhesion are also examined. It is shown that the dispersion number (i.e., the number of API particles detached from the carrier) increases with increasing air velocity, and decreases with increasing the work of adhesion, indicating that the DPI performance is controlled by the balance of the removal and adhesive forces. It is also shown that the cumulative Weibull distribution function can be used to describe the DPI performance, which is governed by the ratio of the fluid drag force to the pull-off force.

Alternative carriers in dry powder inhaler formulations

The aerosolization efficiency of a powder is highly dependent on carrier characteristics, such as particle size distribution, shape and surface properties. The main objective in the inhalation field is to achieve a high and reproducible pulmonary deposition. This can be provided by successful carrier selection and careful process optimization for carrier modification. Lactose is the most common and frequently used carrier in dry powder inhaler (DPI) formulations. But lactose shows some limitations in formulation with certain drugs and peptides that prohibit its usage as a carrier in DPI formulations. Here, we criticality review the most important alternative carriers to lactose with merits, demerits and applications in DPI formulations.