Towards a Better Understanding of Verapamil Release from Kollicoat SR:IR Coated Pellets Using Non-Invasive Analytical Tools

Investigating in-vitro functionality and in-vivo taste assessment of eco-friendly Tadalafil Pastilles

Tadalafil (TDL) has poor bioavailability due to the less aqueous solubility and bitter taste. Oral solid dosage forms, especially tablets, have a broad market worldwide. Constraints of tablets are a long process, pollution, high processing cost, and requiring more excipient. The research was performed to optimize an eco-friendly immediate-acting pastille of TDL to put forward an alternate formulation to a tablet using advanced data mining tools. Another objective is to assess the taste masking of TDL using the Brief Access Taste Aversion (BATA) model. The amount of PEG-4000, Polyox N-10, and Kyron T-314 were chosen as critical material attributes from failure mode effect analysis. Box-Behnken design (BBD) was utilized to optimize the pastilles and ascertained the significant impact of chosen variables on disintegration time and % CDR at 10 min. The control strategy and optimal region were located using an overlay plot. The pastilles were able to release the drug within 15 min due to faster disintegration. The formulated pastilles were of uniform size, shape, and mechanical strength. The bitter taste of TDL was masked and confirmed by the BATA model. The newer formulation may be helpful in the industry due to its eco-friendly, single-step, and economical process. It unlocks a new direction in the field of oral solid dosage form as an alternative to tablets.

Wurster Technology-Assisted Step-by-Step Engineering of Multi-layered Pellets (Sprinkles): Microscopy, Micro-CT, and e-Tongue-Based Analysis

The advancement in the formulation and characterization techniques have paved the path for development of new as well as modification of existing dosage forms. The present work explores the role of micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) as advanced characterization technique for multi-layered-coated pellets to ascertain the quality of coated pellets. The work further explored in-house e-tongue technique for understanding palatability of formulation in early stages of development thus by reducing clinical taste evaluation time. The developed multi-layered-coated pellets were characterized using microscopy (optical and electron microscopy). The obtained results demonstrated formation of spherical-shaped pellets with uniform coating. The uniform coating was further confirmed by results obtained from scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and cross-sectional SEM analysis, which showed visible difference in pellet surface before and after multi-layered coating. The micro-CT results confirmed the visible demarcation of layers (drug and polymer, i.e., hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) and eudragit (EPO)) along with uniform thickness of various layering. The dissolution study of developed pellets suggested the role of layering EPO on drug release from pellets. The e-tongue analysis proved to be an excellent tool for early prediction of taste masking of drug via multi-layered pellets and can serve as potential platform for taste masking with high specificity. The overall results suggest the suitability of developed multi-layered platform as efficient dosage form (sprinkle) in pediatric/geriatric product development.

Design and Optimization of a Nanoparticulate Pore Former as a Multifunctional Coating Excipient for pH Transition-Independent Controlled Release of Weakly Basic Drugs for Oral Drug Delivery

Bioavailability of weakly basic drugs may be disrupted by dramatic pH changes or unexpected pH alterations in the gastrointestinal tract. Conventional organic acids or enteric coating polymers cannot address this problem adequately because they leach out or dissolve prematurely, especially during controlled release applications. Thus, a non-leachable, multifunctional terpolymer nanoparticle (TPN) made of cross-linked poly(methacrylic acid) (PMAA)-polysorbate 80-grafted-starch (PMAA-PS 80-g-St) was proposed to provide pH transition-independent release of a weakly basic drug, verapamil HCl (VER), by a rationally designed bilayer-coated controlled release bead formulation. The pH-responsive PMAA and cross-linker content in the TPN was first optimized to achieve the largest possible increase in medium uptake alongside the smallest decrease in drug release rate at pH 6.8, relative to pH 1.2. Such TPNs maintained an acidic microenvironmental pH (pH_m) when loaded in ethylcellulose (EC) films, as measured using pH-indicating dyes. Further studies of formulations revealed that with the 1:2 VER:TPN ratio and 19% coating weight gain, bilayer-coated beads maintained a constant release rate over the pH transition and exhibited extended release up to 18 h. These results demonstrated that the multifunctional TPN as a pH_m modifier and pH-dependent pore former could overcome the severe pH-dependent solubility of weakly basic drugs.

Drug-Release Mechanisms Elucidated by Imaging Techniques: Visualizing the Invisible!

Imaging techniques such as Raman spectroscopy, electron microscopy, laser scanning confocal microscopy, atomic force microscopy, tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, and terahertz are powerful tools to elucidate drug-release mechanisms from different types of delivery devices [...]