Intermolecular interactions and disorder in six isostructural celecoxib solvates

Screening, Synthesis, and Characterization of a More Rapidly Dissolving Celecoxib Crystal Form

The prevalence of poor solubility in active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) such as celecoxib (CEL) is a major bottleneck in the pharmaceutical industry, leading to a low concentration gradient, poor passive diffusion, and in vivo failure. This study presents the synthesis and characterization of a new cocrystal of the API CEL. CEL is a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug used for the treatment of osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. Computational screening was completed for CEL against a large library of generally recognized as safe (GRAS) coformers, based on molecular complementarity and hydrogen bond propensity (HBP). The generated list of 17 coformers with a likelihood for cocrystallization with CEL were experimentally screened using four techniques: liquid-assisted grinding (LAG), solvent evaporation (SE), gas antisolvent crystallization (GAS), and supercritical enhanced atomization (SEA). One new crystalline form was isolated, employing the liquid coformer N-ethylacetamide (NEA). This novel form, celecoxib-di-N-ethylacetamide (CEL·2NEA), was characterized by a variety of different techniques. The crystal structure was determined through single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Both NEA molecules are evolved from the crystal structure at a desolvation temperature of approximately 65 °C. The CEL·2NEA cocrystal exhibited a dissolution rate, with more than a twofold improvement in comparison to as-received CEL after only 15 min.

Enabling direct compression tablet formulation of celecoxib by simultaneously eliminating punch sticking, improving manufacturability, and enhancing dissolution through co-processing with a mesoporous carrier

The development of a high quality tablet of Celecoxib (CEL) is challenged by poor dissolution, poor flowability, and high punch sticking propensity of CEL. In this work, we demonstrate a particle engineering approach, by loading a solution of CEL in an organic solvent into a mesoporous carrier to form a coprocessed composite, to enable the development of tablet formulations up to 40% (w/w) of CEL loading with excellent flowability and tabletability, negligible punch sticking propensity, and a 3-fold increase in in vitro dissolution compared to a standard formulation of crystalline CEL. CEL is amorphous in the drug-carrier composite and remained physically stable after 6 months under accelerated stability conditions when the CEL loading in the composite was ≤ 20% (w/w). However, crystallization of CEL to different extents from the composites was observed under the same stability condition when CEL loading was 30-50% (w/w). The success with CEL encourages broader exploration of this particle engineering approach in enabling direct compression tablet formulations for other challenging active pharmaceutical ingredients.

Combined crystallographic and computational investigation of the solvent disorder present in a new tipiracil hydrochloride methanol solvate–hydrate

We report a computational and crystallographic analysis of tipiracil hydrochloride (methanol solvate–hydrate). It shows a complex network of H-bonds with static discrete disorder in two out of the three symmetry-independent solvent molecules.

Understanding the thermal stability of apalutamide crystalline solvates through crystal structure analyses and computational studies

The conformational flexibility of APA molecules leads to different crystal packing. The stability of the solvent molecules in the crystal structures was established through their strong intermolecular interactions with the host molecule.

Direct compression tablet formulation of celecoxib enabled with a pharmaceutical solvate

Celecoxib, an anti-inflammatory drug for pain and arthritis, is currently only available in capsule form. To reduce the onset time for a faster action and to lower the manufacturing cost, the tablet dosage form is more preferred. However, the commercial celecoxib (Form III) is not suitable for direct compression (DC) tablet manufacture due to poor flow, low bulk density, and tablet lamination. In this work, we overcome these challenges using a pharmaceutically acceptable dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) solvate of celecoxib. Aided with the DMSO solvate, an acceptable DC tablet formulation was successfully developed to manufacture tablets containing 200 mg celecoxib, with satisfactory manufacturability, disintegration, and in vitro dissolution performance.