Some physical properties of lactose and magnesia

Dry powder inhalation: past, present and future

INTRODUCTION

Early dry powder inhalers (DPIs) were designed for low drug doses in asthma and COPD therapy. Nearly all concepts contained carrier-based formulations and lacked efficient dispersion principles. Therefore, particle engineering and powder processing are increasingly applied to achieve acceptable lung deposition with these poorly designed inhalers. Areas covered: The consequences of the choices made for early DPI development with respect of efficacy, production costs and safety and the tremendous amount of energy put into understanding and controlling the dispersion performance of adhesive mixtures are discussed. Also newly developed particle manufacturing and powder formulation processes are presented as well as the challenges, objectives, and new tools available for future DPI design. Expert opinion: Improved inhaler design is desired to make DPIs for future applications cost-effective and safe. With an increasing interest in high dose drug delivery, vaccination and systemic delivery via the lungs, innovative formulation technologies alone may not be sufficient. Safety is served by increasing patient adherence to the therapy, minimizing the use of unnecessary excipients and designing simple and self-intuitive inhalers, which give good feedback to the patient about the inhalation maneuver. For some applications, like vaccination and delivery of hygroscopic formulations, disposable inhalers may be preferred.

Solid state adsorption of antibiotics onto sorbitol

The ability of two types of sorbitol, instant and crystalline, to hold antibiotics permanently after mixing has been assessed by an air sieving technique. Sorbitol instant was found to have a greater adsorption capacity and binding strength than crystalline sorbitol. The six antibiotics studied were found to fall roughly into two groups of different adsorption capacities: (1) pivampicillin, cephalexin monohydrate and erythromycin ethylsuccinate, and (2) ampicillin trihydrate, amoxycillin trihydrate and cloxacillin sodium. The former have slightly higher levels of adsorption than the latter. A negative linear relationship was found between the amount of antibiotic adsorbed onto dry sorbitol and that originally added to sorbitol. When adsorption is expressed as the weight of drug adsorbed per unit weight of sorbitol, an 'apparent' Langmuir isotherm results. This suggests that there are a number of adsorption sites available for holding drug particles, these sites being different for the different antibiotics.

The effect of particle size and concentration on the adhesive characteristics of a model drug-carrier interactive system

The effect of concentration and particle size on the adhesive tendency of drug particles in a model interactive system was investigated using a centrifuge technique. The model interactive system consisted of drug powders adhered to coated glass carrier beads. Adhesion profiles of per cent of drug remaining on the carrier versus the square of the speed of rotation were a logarithmic normal function. Increase in the adherent particle size and concentration decreased the adhesive tendency of all drug powders studied. Particle collisions during detachment and the formation of multiparticulate layers even before the monolayer saturation of the carrier surface were responsible for the reduced adhesive stability of the drugs on the carrier as the particle loading increased.