During the early stages of drug development, a compound is often solubilised to create a liquid formulation that can be used to evaluate the pharmacokinetics, pharmacology and toxicology of a substance. Although a critical aspect in formulation development, solubility remains one of the most difficult obstacles to overcome due to many compounds possessing low aqueous solubility. Consequently, selecting the right excipient is vital to improve the solubilisation capacity of a drug.

 

There are several techniques available to improve solubility including, chemical modifications, physical modifications, carrier systems and solvent modifications, however, generally speaking, the most widely used approach to identify and select these excipients is a trial and error-based technique, which can be both costly and time consuming. With this in mind, there is an obvious gap for a more intelligent method to be developed and deployed to save time, money and more efficiently determine an excipient’s solubilisation capacity.

 

Amjad Alhalaweh PhD, formulation scientist at contract development and manufacturing organisation (CDMO) Recipharm, discusses a new throughput screening methodology that can be used to improve the efficiency of solubilising compounds by identifying and selecting one or more appropriate excipients.

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