Drug Delivery Flashcards
What are excipients in a drug?
Non- active processing materials e.g dilutents
What are the three main features for using a different solid form of the same drug?
1) Alters the bioavailability of the drug
2) Alters the stability of dosage forms (physical and chemical)
3) Important in the way the dosage forms can be processed and manufactured
What is the most common rate limiting step in absorption?
Dissolution rate
What is bioavailability?
The % of dose that enters systemic circulation
What are polymorphs and what can be their effects?
They are the same drug but different physical forms so can have different therapeutic and biological effects
How can different excipients affect the same drug?
Can have profound effects e.g. disintegrants which can cause break up of tablets into particles
What do polymorphs differ in?
1) Stability- chemical reactivity
- conversion to other forms
2) Processing- different physical forms have different flow
What is a molecule?
Entity containing a number of atoms containing covalent bonds
What is a particle?
Distinct microscopic structure, made from millions of molecules held with non- covalent bonds.
What is a powder?
Visible mass of particles
Give three features of crystalline materials:
1) Ordered arrangement
2) Distinct melting point
3) Structure has unit cell repeated in three dimensions
What is a unit cell?
Small part which can be repeated
Give three features of amorphous materials:
1) No long range order
2) Non- random local structure
3) Have a glass transition temp (Tg)
What type of drug crystals are most drugs?
Triclinic, monoclinic, orthorhombic
Does polymorphism exist in solution?
NO only in a solid
What is true about polymorph stability?
At a given temperature and pressure only one form can be stable, the one with the lowest free Gibbs energy. Others are metastable (kinetically stable)
What is a mono-tropic relationship?
The same form is stable irrespective to temperature
What is an enantiotropic relationship?
Either of the two forms may be stable depending on the temperature
Why is it difficult to tell if you have a stable polymorph?
The metastable form may take a very long time to transform to the stable form.
State and describe two ways for a crystal formation:
1) Supersaturation of solution- conc higher than equilibrium solubility
- can be induced by cooling
2) Nucleation- very small particles form around which crystals grow
- May be homogeneous, same material of crystal or
heterogeneous, foreign material before nucleation
What is a crystal habit and give two examples?
The external shape of a crystal e.g platy and acicular
What does an increase in the degree of supersaturation do to the crystal habit?
Tends to yield longer needles and thinner plates
What happens to the crystal habit and the unit cell of a crystal if the growth conditions change?
Unit cell remains the same however the crystal unit can change
What is the difference between polymorphs and habitats?
Different habitats (external) may indicate the presence of polymorphs (internal) but are different and may change independently
Give four ways to prepare amorphous materials:
1) Rapid cooling from the melt, cooling is too fast to allow crystallisation
2) Fast precipitation from certain solvent systems
3) High energy milling
4) Freeze drying
What are the features below a glass transition (Tg)?
Glassy state, brittle material e.g. PET and glass, low molecular mobility
What are the features above a glass transition (Tg)?
Rubbery state, deformable, plastic material e.g rubber, no melting transition
Is an amorphous material more easily or badly dissolved compared to a crystalline solution, why?
Easier as less stable than crystalline
Give an advantage of using amorphous drugs:
Rapid dissolution so higher bioavailability
Give a disadvantage of using amorphous drugs:
They will recrystallise eventually, more complicated than crystalline and these systems aren’t understood as well.
What is a solvent?
The liquid in which the material is dissolved
What is a solvate?
Crystalline material that contains one or more molecule(s) of the solvent as part of the unit cell structure
What is a hydrate?
A solvate where the solvent molecule is water, i.e., water of crystallisation
What does anhydrous mean?
No water of crystallisation is present
How are solvates made?
By crystallisation from the solvent in question
What is an issue with solvates in a drug form?
Solvates can form unexpectedly when the drug is in contact with a liquid (processing, storage, use)
Potential toxicity issues with included solvent
Includes humidity from ambient air
What is a hemihydrate?
1 water molecule to one drug molecule
What is hydrate stereochemistry?
Usually highly specific ratios of water to drug
What is the general trend for solubilities of the hydrous form and the anhydrous form?
Hydrates usually have lower solubilites and dissolution rates
What is the general trend of solubility for non- aqueous solvates and anhydrates?
Non-aqueous solvates tend to have higher solubility than the anhydrous form
What are multi-component solid forms?
Contain the drug and another molecule or ion e.g
o Solvates
o Salts (e.g., sulfate or chloride salt of the drug)
o Co-crystals (another ‘solid’ molecule in the structure)
o Note that these all can be polymorphic
Are amorphous forms considered solvates, even though…..?
NO, even though they can usually absorb a significant amount of water
How do you determine the flow properties of a drug?
By particle size, shape and particle- particle interactions
What are the two main properties you need to consider to manufacture a drug?
Flow properties and how well it mixes
Prior to absorption, where must the drug dissolve?
In the GI tract
How do you work out drug dissolution?
Noyes- Whitney equation
What are polycrystalline systems composed of?
Aggregates of ‘microcrystals’
What is a complication of particle properties?
Individual particles can clump together to form aggregates/agglomerates
Each particle in a powder will be different
What does it mean if a powder is monosized or monodispersed?
Every particle is the same size and hence the population may be defined by a single parameter
How would you display the ranges of particle sizes in a powder?
Via a histogram, where the proportion (% frequency) is plotted against size
What does a bimodal distribution mean?
Two peaks in the histogram
What is sieve analysis?
Set of sieves with widest mesh at top, finest at the bottom
Sieves usually automatically shaken for a predetermined period of time (usually around 20 minutes)
What is a modification of sieving and what are its benefits?
Air jet sieving- more accurate and reproducible that mechanical vibration, but lengthy
What is the smallest particle size that a light microscope can measure?
10 micrometers
What is the smallest size that an electron microscope can measure?
100nm
What is a projected perimeter diameter?
All the particle enclosed in a small circle
What is a projected area diameter?
Area of circle enclosed around the particle has the same area of the particle.
How does Electrical stream sensing zone method (Coulter Counter) work?
Works on the basis of particles suspended in an electrolyte solution
Particles pass through an aperture of known diameter. Electrodes either side of aperture will register increase in resistance as particle displaces its own volume of electrolyte
What size range of particles does electrical stream sensing zone method work for?
0.1-1000 micrometers
Give one advantage and three disadvantages of the electrical stream sensing zone method:
Fairly quick and easy to use but assumes each particle passes through individually – dispersal can be a problem
Also have to disperse in aqueous solvent – may have to saturate medium first to prevent dissolution
Aperture blockage tends to be persistent problem
What is laser light scattering and how does it work?
Use diffraction of light as means of calculating diameter and size range
Laser applied to suspension of particles in aqueous or non- aqueous medium
What are the two types of laser light scattering?
Large-particle analysers and photon correlation spectroscopy
Why is flow important?
Uniform feed into tableting or capsule filling equipment, leading to uniform weight and mechanical properties
Ease of handling and transfer of powders
What is adhesion?
Attraction between a material and a different material
What is cohesion?
Attraction between a material and an identical material
What does it mean in respect to flow if a powder is cohesive?
It doesn’t flow very well
What is the correlation between particle size and shape in respect to flow?
Large particles flow better than small particles
Round particles flow better than needles or complex shapes
What is the angle of response and how do you measure it?
Pour powder onto a plate and the angle to the horizontal is measured.
What sizes do angles need to be to represent how well they flow?
High angle means high cohesion
• Generally angles > 50° – poor flow
• Angles circa 25° – good flow
How do you find the flow from bulk density measurements?
Add powder to cylinder, measure volume, tap it in a controlled manner, usually by machine, measure the volume after the tapping. This is done by final bulk density/ initial bulk density. To find density is mass/ volume.
Why should difference in volume before and after tapping be a reflection of cohesion?
Because cohesive powders tend to form arches and bridges in a powder bed due to interparticulate forces, which collapse on tapping
What are the two types of stopped flow in a hopper?
Ratholing and bridging
Why is ratholing problematic?
Rat-holing problematic because of non-sequential drainage, but also danger of rat hole collapsing leading to sudden flooding
When flowability is measured, what numbers represent good and poor flow?
Hausner ratio of circa 1.2 reflects good flow, higher than 1.6 poor flow
What is bridging?
Cohesive powders form a bridge over the hole
What is random- mixing?
Random mix – probability of finding a type of particle is proportional to total number in mix (14/30)
State and describe the three mechanisms of mixing:
Convective mixing: take a portion of material from a pile, move it to another location
Shear mixing: powder heap will collapse into hole created (shear plane generated)
Diffusive mixing: if powder bed lifted and dropped. Particles then tumble over each other and mix on particulate basis
What is trajectory segregation?
Larger particles will have greater momentum and move larger distances than smaller ones
Often see larger particles at edge of powder bed after mixing
What are the three main methods for manufacturing tablets:
- Wet granulation
- Dry granulation
- Direct compression
What is an API?
Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient
What is granulation and why is it a better method for making tablets:
Combining the powder ( API and excipients) together to make granules
The granules flow easier than powder
What four things would you have to consider when choosing a manufacturing process for a tablet?
- Compression properties of the therapeutic agent (TI)
- Particle size of the TI
- Types of excipient
- Chemical stability of the TI
What happens to a drug before being manufactured?
Milling- to make particles a more smaller even size.
What is the purpose of a diluent/ filler and what properties should they have?
Added to ALL tablets to increase the bulk of the tablet
Need to exhibit good compression properties and not be expensive
Give four examples of diluents and why are they useful for:
Lactose- inert
Starch- used as a liquid but can also act as binder and disintegrant
Pre-gelatinised starch- allows free flowing powder
Diabasic calcium phosphate- Excellent flow and compression- caution as its basic
What is the purpose of binders?
Used in wet granulation to bind, can be added as a solution or powder
Give an example of a binder and its properties:
Microcrystalline Cellulose (MCC)- binder, diluent and disintegrant
What are the purpose of disintegrants in manufacturing tablets?
They facilitate the breakdown of the tablet upon entry as they increase porosity and wettability so GI fluids can enter, so pressure increases and breaks the tablets
What is the structure of disintegrants?
Cross-linked- so water enters these gaps
Give two examples of disintergrants:
Starch
Microcrystalline Cellulose
How do effervescent tablets break down?
Water enters the pores and this increases pressure and co2 is released so the leaving of the co2 breaks the tablets
What are the functions of lubricants?
Added to the interface of the die and tablet- reduces friction during ejection of the tablet
What is an insoluble lubricant and give two examples:
Added to final mixing stage before compression, however adding too much can affect degradation
Magnesium stearate
Stearic acid
What are soluble lubricants and give an example:
Used when insoluble lubricants affect disintegration, they also enhance dissolution of poorly soluble substances
Polyethylene
What are glidants?
Enhance the flow properties of powders within the hopper, reduces friction between powder/ granulate and surface of the hopper
What are the physical structure and properties of glidants?
Between granulate mixture, so must be fine and small to adhere to granules
Generally hydrophobic
Give two examples of glidants and which one is better?
Talc- needed in high conc, can be inhaled causing granulomas
Colloidal silicon dioxide- need in lower conc
What are adsorbents and give an example:
When a starting material is a liquid and want to make it into a solid
Magnesium carbonate/ oxide
Give three other types of excipients and their function:
- Sweetening agents - taste
- Colouring agents- identification
- Surface acting agents- enhance wettablilty of hydrophobic tablets, aids rate of degradation
What type of mixing is needed when mixing excipients and TI?
Homogenous
What three pieces of equipment can be used to mixed excipients and TI together?
Planetary bowl mixer
Rotating drug mixer
Highspeed mixer
What are four advantages for using granules rather than a direct powder for tablet formulation?
- Prevention of segregation of powder
- Enhances flow properties
- Enhances compaction properties
- Lower incidences of dust production
What three fluids could you use for wet granulation?
Water
Ethanol
Isopropanol
What are three ways of making a granule in wet granulation?
Oscillating granulator
High- speed mixer
Fluidised- bed granulation
How does oscillating granulation work?
Low shear mixing of the powder, granulation fluid spray over the powder and then passed through oscillating granulator
How does fluidised bed granulation work?
Air passes underneath which suspends the powder, causes a fluid like floating powder. Spray is then sprayed and the air underneath drys it also.
What is used to mill granules?
Quadro comil