International journal of pharmaceutics
-
Nearly 20% of people affected by the herpes simplex virus (HSV) suffer from vision problems. The virus can infect all layers of the cornea or cause inflammatory diseases of the sclera. The aim of this work was to test whether encapsulation of acyclovir in Soluplus or Solutol polymeric micelles increases its solubility, corneal permeability and sclera penetration. ⋯ Although similar permeability coefficients were recorded for the drug when applied as the free drug in solution or formulated in Soluplus micelles, the micelle formulation significantly shortened the permeation lag time through the cornea. Moreover, Soluplus micelles were advantageous compared to the drug solution in terms of greater amount of acyclovir accumulated in both cornea and sclera, and higher steady state flux. If compared with cornea, the amounts of drug permeated through the sclera were approx. 10 times greater, which opens the possibility of drug delivery to the posterior eye segment.
-
Drug delivery via the inhaled route has advantages for treating local and systemic diseases. Pulmonary drug delivery may have potential in treating tuberculosis (TB), which is mainly localised in the lung (pulmonary tuberculosis ∼75%) while also affecting other organs (extra-pulmonary tuberculosis). Currently, rifampicin, a first-line anti-tubercular drug, is given orally and the maximum daily oral dose is the lesser of 10 mg/kg or 600 mg. ⋯ Pulmonary delivery of rifampicin, either alone or in addition to the standard oral dose, has the potential to achieve a high concentration of rifampicin in the lung at a relatively low administered dose that is sufficient to kill bacteria and reduce the development of drug resistance. As yet, no clinical study in humans has reported the pharmacokinetics or the efficacy of pulmonary delivery of rifampicin for TB. This review discusses the opportunities and challenges of rifampicin delivery via the inhaled route and important considerations for future clinical studies on high dose inhaled rifampicin are illustrated.
-
Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) is used in therapy for bone tissue repair because an abundance of osteogenesis-related growth factors can be released from the concentrated platelets. However, its clinical use is limited because growth factors, temporally released from PRP, are degraded rapidly. This study aimed to incorporate PRP-derived growth factors into SF/PCL/PVA nanofibers by coaxial electrospinning to determine the release profiles of growth factors and how the presence of these growth factors enhances the osteogenic abilities of the nanofibers. ⋯ Furthermore, new bone formation was also promoted by PRP-NFS after 8 weeks of implantation. In conclusion, this study shows that the incorporation of PRP had positive effects on the bioactivity and osteogenic ability of coaxial nanofibrous mats. Such nanofibrous mats may prove beneficial in various applications of bone tissue engineering.
-
Inline dry powder inhalers (DPIs) offer a potentially effective option to deliver high dose inhaled medications simultaneously with mechanical ventilation. The objective of this study was to develop an inline DPI that is actuated using a low volume of air (LV-DPI) to efficiently deliver pharmaceutical aerosols during low flow nasal cannula (LFNC) therapy. A characteristic feature of the new inline LV-DPIs was the use of hollow capillary tubes that both pierced the capsule and provided a pathway for inlet air and exiting aerosol. ⋯ Best case performance included a device ED of approximately 85% (of loaded dose) and device emitted mass median aerodynamic diameter of 1.77 µm. Maximum ED through the LFNC system and small diameter (4 mm) nasal cannula was approximately 65% of the loaded dose. Potential applications of this device include the delivery of high dose inhaled medications such as surfactants, antibiotics, mucolytics, and anti-inflammatories.
-
The overall objective of this work is to understand how excipient characteristics influence the drug product quality attributes and process performance of a continuous twin screw wet granulation process. The knowledge gained in this study is intended to be used for Quality by Design (QbD)-based formulation design and formulation optimization. Three principal components which represent the overarching properties of 8 selected pharmaceutical fillers were used as factors, whereas factors 4 and 5 represented binder type and binder concentration in a design of experiments (DoE). ⋯ Binder type and concentration revealed a relevant influence on granule flowability and friability as well as on the compactability (required compression force during tableting to obtain target hardness). In order to evaluate the DoE models' validity, a verification of the DoE models was performed with new formulations (i.e. a new combination of filler, binder type and binder concentration) which were initially not included in the dataset used to build the DoE models. The combined PCA (principle component analysis)/DoE approach allowed to link the excipient properties with the drug product quality attributes.