Wurster Fluidised Bed Coating of Microparticles: Towards Scalable Production of Oral Sustained-Release Liquid Medicines for Patients with Swallowing Difficulties

Development and Characterization of Microparticles with Actinidia arguta Leaves Extract by Spray-Drying: A New Mind-Set Regarding Healthy Compounds for Oral Mucositis

Actinidia arguta leaves have gained notoriety over the past years due to their rich bioactive composition with human pro-healthy effects, particularly in relation to antioxidants. Nevertheless, antioxidants are well known for their chemical instability, making it necessary to develop suitable delivery systems, such as microparticles, to provide protection and ensure a controlled release. The aim of this work was to produce polymeric particles of A. arguta leaves extract by spray-drying that may improve the oral mucositis condition. Microparticles were characterized by size, shape, antioxidant/antiradical activities, swelling capacity, moisture content, and effect on oral cells (TR146 and HSC-3) viability, with the aim to assess their potential application in this oral condition. The results attested the microparticles' spherical morphology and production yields of 41.43% and 36.40%, respectively, for empty and A. arguta leaves extract microparticles. The A. arguta leaves extract microparticles obtained the highest phenolic content (19.29 mg GAE/g) and antioxidant/antiradical activities (FRAP = 81.72 µmol FSE/g; DPPH = 4.90 mg TE/g), being perceived as an increase in moisture content and swelling capacity. No differences were observed between empty and loaded microparticles through FTIR analysis. Furthermore, the exposure to HSC-3 and TR146 did not lead to a viability decrease, attesting their safety for oral administration. Overall, these results highlight the significant potential of A. arguta leaves extract microparticles for applications in the pharmaceutical and nutraceutical industries.

Better Medicines for Older Patients: Considerations between Patient Characteristics and Solid Oral Dosage Form Designs to Improve Swallowing Experience

Oral drug administration provided as solid oral dosage forms (SODF) remains the major route of drug therapy in primary and secondary care. There is clear evidence for a growing number of clinically relevant swallowing issues (e.g., dysphagia) in the older patient population, especially when considering the multimorbid, frail, and polymedicated patients. Swallowing impairments have a negative impact on SODF administration, which leads to poor adherence and inappropriate alterations (e.g., crushing, splitting). Different strategies have been proposed over the years in order to enhance the swallowing experience with SODF, by using conventional administration techniques or applying swallowing aids and devices. Nevertheless, new formulation designs must be considered by implementing a patient centric approach in order to efficiently improve SODF administration by older patient populations. Together with appropriate SODF size reductions, innovative film coating materials that can be applied to SODF and provide swallowing safety and efficacy with little effort being required by the patients are still needed. With that in mind, a literature review was conducted in order to identify the availability of patient centric coating materials claiming to shorten esophageal transit times and improve the overall SODF swallowing experience for older patients. The majority of coating technologies were identified in patent applications, and they mainly included well-known water soluble polymers that are commonly applied into pharmaceutical coatings. Nevertheless, scientific evidence demonstrating the benefits of given SODF coating materials in the concerned patient populations are still very limited. Consequently, the availability for safe, effective, and clinically proven solutions to address the increasing prevalence of swallowing issues in the older patient population is still limited.

Regulating the pH of bicarbonate solutions without purging gases: Application to dissolution testing of enteric coated tablets, pellets and microparticles

Dissolution media based on bicarbonate buffers closely mimic the environment of intestinal fluids and thus improve in vitro in vivo correlation compared to phosphate buffers. Purging gases into the medium is used as a method to stabilise bicarbonate buffers; however, this causes issues due to the disturbance of the hydrodynamics in the dissolution vessel. The aim of this study was to develop a novel system to regulate and stabilise the pH of bicarbonate buffers without purging gases for the application of dissolution testing of enteric coated products. A novel enclosure system was applied to the USP II dissolution vessel to supply N₂ and CO₂ gases above the dissolution medium without purging into the solution. Drug release from enteric coated predinisolone microparticles (216.9 µm), pellets (1.25 mm) and commercially available tablets was determined in 0.1 M HCl and subsequently in pH 6.8 phosphate buffer or pH 6.2-6.8 bicarbonate buffers generated by titration of the acidic medium in situ using USP II apparatus. Supplying N₂ at 3-4 bar and CO₂ at 0.1 bar were able to increase the pH of the bicarbonate buffer from pH 6.2 to 6.8 within 45 min and subsequently stabilise the medium pH at 6.8 ± 0.05 pH units. Enteric coated microparticles showed much faster drug release in the physiological bicarbonate buffers than tablets and pellets. The novel bicarbonate-based dissolution system moves forward the application of the physiological bicarbonate buffers for testing pharmaceutical products to meet compendial requirements.