Pharmaceutical Hot Melt Extrusion A Cost Effective Method to Increase Solubility

Full Title: Employing Hot Melt Extrusion As a Cost Effective Method of Increasing Solubility Of Water Insoluble API’s • Identifying the appropriate excipients for HME processing of water insoluble drugs • Using novel excipients to achieve increased dissolution rates (Granulation) • Extrusion with polymeric carriers for the development of solid dispersions • Co-crystallisation of water insoluble drugs In the last 20 years Hot Melt Extrusion (HME) has seized the attention of pharmaceutical industry for the development of pharmaceutical solid dispersions. It is a versatile processing technology, which can effectively increase the solubility/dissolution of water insoluble active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). The processing of a wide range of materials including inorganic excipients, hydrophilic polymers or cocrystal formers renders HME advantageous compared to conventional formulation technologies. In this review article we discuss recent trends for increased solubility/dissolution of water insoluble actives by using HME and predictive tools for process optimisation. As a well-known process in polymer industry hot melt extrusion (HME) is approaching pharmaceutical manufacturing. HME allows innovative formulations of solid oral dosage forms. Its main advantage in pharmaceutical applications is the possibility to enhance bioavailability of a drug, i.e. to produce solid dispersions of the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) in the polymer matrix. The main concern of the formulator is to achieve the appropriate release profile (immediate or sustained release) or improved bioavailability of the API. The presentation gives an introduction into HME technology as an alternative to spray drying. It includes several case studies related to HME for solid oral dosage forms. In addition to solid oral dosage forms hot melt extrusion (HME) can be used for novel delivery methods. The presentation gives an overview on possible applications including examples and case studies.