High Solubility Drugs Research Articles

INFLUENCE OF DOSE AND USP DISSOLUTION APPARATUS IN THE RELEASE PERFORMANCE OF REFERENCE TABLETS: PROPRANOLOL-HCl AND RANITIDINE-HCl CASES

Objective: Due to quality of generic formulations depends on available information of reference drug products the aim of this work was to perform an in vitro dissolution study of two doses of propranolol-HCl and ranitidine-HCl reference tablets using USP basket or paddle apparatus and flow-through cell method.
 Methods: Two doses of propranolol-HCl (10-mg and 80-mg) and ranitidine-HCl (150-mg and 300-mg) of Mexican reference products were used. Dissolution profiles of propranolol-HCl were obtained with USP basket apparatus at 100 rpm and 1000 ml of 1% hydrochloric acid. Profiles of ranitidine-HCl were determined with USP paddle apparatus at 50 rpm and 900 ml of distilled water. All formulations were also studied with the flow-through cell method using laminar flow at 16 ml/min. Dissolution profiles were compared by model-independent (f2 similarity factor, mean dissolution time and dissolution efficiency) and model-dependent methods (dissolution data adjusted to some mathematical equations). Time data, derived from these adjustments, as t50%, t63.25%, and t85% were used to compare dissolution profiles.
 Results: With all approaches used and being high solubility drugs significant differences were found between low and high doses and between USP dissolution apparatuses (*P<0.05).
 Conclusion: In vitro dissolution performance of two doses of propranolol-HCl and ranitidine-HCl was not expected. Considering the same USP dissolution apparatus, the reference tablets did not allow the simultaneous release of the used doses. The results could be of interest for pharmaceutical laboratories or health authorities that classify some drug products as a reference to be used in dissolution and bioequivalence studies.

Polydopamine-functionalized nanographene oxide: a versatile nanocarrier for chemotherapy and photothermal therapy

For releasing both drug and heat to selected sites, a combination of chemotherapy and photothermal therapy in one system is a more effective way to destroy cancer cells than monotherapy. Graphene oxide (GO) with high drug-loading efficiency and near-infrared (NIR) absorbance has great potential in drug delivery and photothermal therapy, but it is difficult to load drugs with high solubility. Herein, we develop a versatile drug delivery nanoplatform based on GO for integrated chemotherapy and photothermal therapy by a facile method of simultaneous reduction and surface functionalization of GO with poly(dopamine) (PDA). Due to the excellent adhesion of PDA, both low and high solubility drugs can be encapsulated in the PDA-functionalized GO nanocomposite (rGO-PDA). The fabricated nanocomposite exhibits good biocompatibility, excellent photothermal performance, high drug loading capacity, an outstanding sustained release property, and efficient endocytosis. Moreover, NIR laser irradiation facilitates the release of loaded drugs from rGO-PDA. These features make the rGO-PDA nanocomposite achieve excellent in vivo synergistic antitumor therapeutic efficacy.

Development of extended release multiple unit effervescent floating drug delivery systems for drugs with different solubilities

The purpose of this study was preparation and evaluation of extended release multiple unit floating drug delivery systems based on CO2 formation with rapid and extended floating and good control over the release for drugs with different solubilities. The pellet systems were prepared by fluidized bed layering/coating techniques and evaluated by floating, drug release, medium uptake and swelling studies in 0.1 N HCl. Two different pellet systems were evaluated; the first consisted of drug-layered sugar cores, NaHCO3-layer and a polymeric top-coating, which ideally controlled both floating and release properties. The second, modified system consisted of drug-containing Eudragit® RS 30 D coated extended release pellets coated with NaHCO3-layer and Eudragit® RL 30 D top-coating. The Eudragit® RL coating resulted in sufficient medium penetration, a prerequisite for CO2 formation, and in high CO2 entrapment efficiency. Floating was maintained over a wide range of Eudragit® RL/RS combinations. Extended release from the first system could be achieved only for low solubility, high dose drugs because of high Eudragit® RL permeability. For high solubility drugs, separating floating and release “functions” was successful. Extended release pellets were used to achieve better drug release control, while floating was achieved by an Eudragit® RL top-coat.

The Biopharmaceutics Classification System: Subclasses for in vivo predictive dissolution (IPD) methodology and IVIVC

The Biopharmaceutics Classification System (BCS) has found widespread utility in drug discovery, product development and drug product regulatory sciences. The classification scheme captures the two most significant factors influencing oral drug absorption; solubility and intestinal permeability and it has proven to be a very useful and a widely accepted starting point for drug product development and drug product regulation. The mechanistic base of the BCS approach has, no doubt, contributed to its wide spread acceptance and utility. Nevertheless, underneath the simplicity of BCS are many detailed complexities, both in vitro and in vivo which must be evaluated and investigated for any given drug and drug product. In this manuscript we propose a simple extension of the BCS classes to include sub-specification of acid (a), base (b) and neutral (c) for classes II and IV. Sub-classification for Classes I and III (high solubility drugs as currently defined) is generally not needed except perhaps in border line solubility cases. It is well known that the , pKa physical property of a drug (API) has a significant impact on the aqueous solubility dissolution of drug from the drug product both in vitro and in vivo for BCS Class II and IV acids and bases, and is the basis, we propose for a sub-classification extension of the original BCS classification.This BCS sub-classification is particularly important for in vivo predictive dissolution methodology development due to the complex and variable in vivo environment in the gastrointestinal tract, with its changing pH, buffer capacity, luminal volume, surfactant luminal conditions, permeability profile along the gastrointestinal tract and variable transit and fasted and fed states. We believe this sub-classification is a step toward developing a more science-based mechanistic in vivo predictive dissolution (IPD) methodology. Such a dissolution methodology can be used by development scientists to assess the likelihood of a formulation and dosage form functioning as desired in humans, can be optimized along with parallel human pharmacokinetic studies to set a dissolution methodology for Quality by Design (QbD) and in vitro–in vivo correlations (IVIVC) and ultimately can be used as a basis for a dissolution standard that will ensure continued in vivo product performance.

Correlation between the systemic clearance of drugs and their food effects in humans

Context: Food effects were defined as positive, when coadministration of food causes an increase in the extent of absorption (AUC0–∞) of a drug when compared with fasted state drug administration and no effect when coadministration of food causes no change in AUC0–∞. In general, low solubility drugs exhibit positive food effects due to improved solubility in fed state administration. But, certain high-solubility and high-permeability drugs that undergo extensive presystemic metabolism exhibit positive food effects because of the increased splanchnic hepatic blood flow in the fed state presumably causing a fraction of drug to bypass first-pass metabolism during absorption.Objective: In this study, systemic clearance (Cl) of structurally diverse high-permeability and high-solubility drugs was correlated to their food effects to explore whether drugs undergoing low clearance exhibited no food effects and drugs undergoing high clearance exhibited positive food effects.Methods: Six drugs exhibiting positive food effects and nine drugs exhibiting no food effects (for comparison) were selected for linear regression analysis.Results: Regression analysis of the selected drugs indicated that percent food effects correlated linearly to Cl and fitted the equation: percent food effects = 0.9163 × Cl − 6.4789. The R2, p-value and power of the regression model were >0.88, 0.9999, respectively indicating the direct correlation between Cl and food effects of the selected model drugs; other statistical tests validated the model.Conclusion: The model indicated that high-solubility and high-permeability drugs undergoing Cl of more than 27 L/h may exhibit statistically significant positive food effects.

A Provisional Biopharmaceutical Classification of the Top 200 Oral Drug Products in the United States, Great Britain, Spain, and Japan

Orally administered, immediate-release (IR) drug products in the top 200 drug product lists from the United States (US), Great Britain (GB), Spain (ES), and Japan (JP) were provisionally classified based on the Biopharmaceutics Classification System (BCS). The provisional classification is based on the aqueous solubility of the drugs reported in readily available reference literature and a correlation of human intestinal membrane permeability for a set of 29 reference drugs with their calculated partition coefficients. Oral IR drug products constituted more that 50% of the top 200 drug products on all four lists, and ranged from 102 to 113 in number. Drugs with dose numbers less than or equal to unity are defined as high-solubility drugs. More than 50% of the oral IR drug products on each list were determined to be high-solubility drugs (55-59%). The provisional classification of permeability is based on correlations of the human intestinal permeabilities of 29 reference drugs with the calculated Log P or CLogP lipophilicity values for the uncharged chemical form. The Log P and CLogP estimates were linearly correlated (r2 = 0.79) for 187 drugs. Metoprolol was chosen as the reference compound for permeability and Log P or CLogP. A total of 62-69.0% and 56-60% of the drugs on the four lists exhibited CLogP and Log P estimates, respectively, greater than or equal to the corresponding metoprolol value and are provisionally classified as high-permeability drugs. We have compared the BCS classification in this study with the recently proposed BDDCS classification based on fraction dose metabolism. Although the two approaches are based on different in vivo processes, fraction dose metabolized and fraction dose absorbed are highly correlated and, while depending on the choice of reference drug for permeability classification, e.g., metoprolol vs cimetidine or atenolol, show excellent agreement in drug classification. In summary, more than 55% of the drug products were classified as high-solubility (Class 1 and Class 3) drugs in the four lists, suggesting that in vivo bioequivalence (BE) may be assured with a less expensive and more easily implemented in vitro dissolution test.

Impact of P-Glycoprotein-Mediated Intestinal Efflux Kinetics on Oral Bioavailability of P-Glycoprotein Substrates

Studies of many P-glycoprotein (Pgp) substrates have demonstrated a significant effect of Pgp-mediated efflux on intestinal drug transport. However, most of these studies were designed to detect whether a particular drug is a Pgp substrate and thus were conducted at very low concentrations. We performed two simulations to evaluate the effect of Pgp-mediated efflux on oral drug absorption at various concentrations. In the first simulation, a steady-state model allowed us to predict whether the contribution of Pgp to oral drug absorption would be significant at clinically relevant concentrations. Our second simulation investigated the role of Pgp-mediated efflux in oral absorption with a dynamic compartmental absorption and transit model linked to a pharmacokinetic model. For high-solubility drugs, Pgp-mediated efflux altered the bioavailability only at drug concentrations corresponding to doses much lower than the usual clinical dose. The ratio of transporter-mediated transport to passive transport determined whether intestinal Pgp transporters would reduce the bioavailability of high-solubility drugs.

Molecular Properties of WHO Essential Drugs and Provisional Biopharmaceutical Classification

The purpose of this study is to provisionally classify, based on the Biopharmaceutics Classification System (BCS), drugs in immediate-release dosage forms that appear on the World Health Organization (WHO) Essential Drug List. The classification in this report is based on the aqueous solubility of the drugs reported in commonly available reference literature and a correlation of human intestinal membrane permeability for a set of 29 reference drugs with their calculated partition coefficients. The WHO Essential Drug List consists of a total of 325 medicines and 260 drugs, of which 123 are oral drugs in immediate-release (IR) products. Drugs with dose numbers less than or equal to unity [Do = (maximum dose strength/250 mL)/solubility < or = 1] are defined as high-solubility drugs. Drug solubility for the uncharged, lowest-solubility form reported in the Merck Index or USP was used. Of the 123 WHO oral drugs in immediate-release dosage forms, 67% (82) were determined to be high-solubility drugs. The classification of permeability is based on correlations of human intestinal permeability of 29 reference drugs with the estimated log P or CLogP lipophilicity values. Metoprolol was chosen as the reference compound for permeability and log P or CLogP. Log P and CLogP were linearly correlated (r2 = 0.78) for 104 drugs. A total of 53 (43.1%) and 62 (50.4%) drugs on the WHO list exhibited log P and CLogP estimates, respectively, that were greater than or equal to the corresponding metoprolol value and are classified as high-permeability drugs. The percentages of the drugs in immediate-release dosage forms that were classified as BCS Class 1, Class 2, Class 3, and Class 4 drugs using dose number and log Pwere as follows: 23.6% in Class 1, 17.1% in Class 2, 31.7% in Class 3, and 10.6% in Class 4. The remaining 17.1% of the drugs could not be classified because of the inability to calculate log P values because of missing fragments. The corresponding percentages in the various BCS classes with dose number and CLogP criteria were similar: 28.5% in Class 1, 19.5% in Class 2, 35.0% in Class 3, and 9.8% in Class 4. The remaining 7.3% of the drugs could not be classified since CLogP could not be calculated. These results suggest that a satisfactory bioequivalence (BE) test for more than 55% of the high-solubility Class 1 and Class 3 drug products on the WHO Essential Drug List may be based on an in vitro dissolution test. The use of more easily implemented, routinely monitored, and reliable in vitro dissolution tests can ensure the clinical performance of drug products that appear on the WHO Essential Medicines List.

A theoretical basis for a biopharmaceutic drug classification: the correlation of in vitro drug product dissolution and in vivo bioavailability.

A biopharmaceutics drug classification scheme for correlating in vitro drug product dissolution and in vivo bioavailability is proposed based on recognizing that drug dissolution and gastrointestinal permeability are the fundamental parameters controlling rate and extent of drug absorption. This analysis uses a transport model and human permeability results for estimating in vivo drug absorption to illustrate the primary importance of solubility and permeability on drug absorption. The fundamental parameters which define oral drug absorption in humans resulting from this analysis are discussed and used as a basis for this classification scheme. These Biopharmaceutic Drug Classes are defined as: Case 1. High solubility-high permeability drugs, Case 2. Low solubility-high permeability drugs, Case 3. High solubility-low permeability drugs, and Case 4. Low solubility-low permeability drugs. Based on this classification scheme, suggestions are made for setting standards for in vitro drug dissolution testing methodology which will correlate with the in vivo process. This methodology must be based on the physiological and physical chemical properties controlling drug absorption. This analysis points out conditions under which no in vitro-in vivo correlation may be expected e.g. rapidly dissolving low permeability drugs. Furthermore, it is suggested for example that for very rapidly dissolving high solubility drugs, e.g. 85% dissolution in less than 15 minutes, a simple one point dissolution test, is all that may be needed to insure bioavailability. For slowly dissolving drugs a dissolution profile is required with multiple time points in systems which would include low pH, physiological pH, and surfactants and the in vitro conditions should mimic the in vivo processes.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Prediction of blood levels following oral administration of weakly acidic drug particles such as sulfa drugs in rabbits from the in vitro dissolution behavior.

Prediction of blood levels following oral administration of weakly acidic drug particles such as sulfa drugs from data obtained in in vitro dissolution tests of drug suspensions was studied in the rabbit. The relationship between in vivo and in vitro dissolution rates or between absorption rate and in vitro dissolution rate was investigated. The drug absorption from aqueous solution was suggested to be rate-limited by the gastric emptying rate because the initial absorption rate constant in a biexponential time course of aqueous solution for the amount unabsorbed vs. time plot was almost the same among 9 of the 10 drugs tested, except for sulfacetamide. This indicated that when the in vivo dissolution rate constant is much slower than the initial absorption rate constant of aqueous solution, the time course of blood levels for the solid drug will deviate from that of aqueous solution. Based on the consideration, the critical in vitro dissolution rate constant corresponding to the initial absorption rate constants of aqueous solution was calculated by means of statistical analysis using the relationship between in vivo and in vitro parameters. The validity of this prediction was examined using four high-solubility drugs, and it was found that the prediction could be done whether the in vitro dissolution medium was distilled water or 0.1 N HCl solution. Although in the present study, the experiment was done using an aqueous suspension form in the rabbit, the applicability of this prediction method to other dosage forms and to the case of humans is discussed.

Comparison of in vivo dissolution of sulfa drugs calculated by deconvolution to absorption rates calculated by multicompartment model method

A comparative study between in vivo drug dissolution calculated by deconvolution and absorption rate calculated by the multicompartment model method was made in rabbits, using 5 powder sulfa drugs with a solubility ranging from 0.001 to 0.1%. The semilogarithmic plots of undissolved vs time for the in vivo dissolution process, and of unabsorbed vs time for the absorption process were biphasic with convex-descending time course curves for the large particle sizes of low-solubility drugs of SDM, SD and SIX. On the other hand, for high-solubility drugs of ST and SMT, the undissolved-time course was a single line and the unabsorbed-time course was biphasic with a concave-descending curve. The rate constants of in vivo dissolution correlated well with those of absorption at a constant ratio for each drug during the initial linear portions (2–5 h), thereafter, this correlation disappeared. There was a good particle-size dependent correlation between in vitro and in vivo dissolution rates for SDM and SD; it ceased with increasing drug solubility.