Drug development and industrial pharmacy
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Emulsions for parenteral nutrition loaded with drugs are used for optimized drug delivery, but in case of poorly oil soluble drugs, the injection volume can be too large when using commercial 10-20% oil emulsions. To reduce the injection volume, the feasibility of producing injectable, physically stable concentrated emulsions up to 40% oil content was investigated. Emulsions were made from fish oil, stabilized with egg lecithin, using high-pressure homogenization. ⋯ Despite the high oil concentration, the viscosity of the nanoemulsions was sufficiently low for injection. The short-term storage study showed physical stability for 1 month. A concentrated nanoemulsion base formulation from regulatory accepted excipients is now available, ready for loading with drugs.