Supercritical CO2 impregnation approach for enhancing dissolution of fenofibrate by adsorption onto high-surface area carriers

Abstract

Hydrophobic drugs pose a challenge to pharmaceutical oral dosage forms because their low dissolution reduced bioavailability. In this study, we developed different strategies to adsorb fenofibrate (FB), a BCS II drug, onto high-surface-area carriers (Ae200) to enhance its dissolution. As compared to physical mixing and spray drying, physical adsorption and supercritical fluid methods showed the highest dissolution rates (over 80% in 30 min and over 90% in 60 min) with the highest surface area values. Among the two best methods, supercritical solvent impregnation technique (SCF1) offered better dissolution behavior, attributed to the FB physical state transition from crystalline to amorphous. This improvement suggests the potential of the SCF1 in the development of hydrophobic drugs.