Preformulation procedures for new drugs Flashcards
what are the events in product development
- synthesis/isolation
- biological activity
- preformulation
- formulation development
- pre clinical and clinical testing
- IND/NDA application
what is the aim of a formulation scientist
to develop a pharmaceutical product for a drug suitable for administration to humans
what are the criteria for development
- effective
- ideal administration
- stable
- ideal for large scale manufacturing
what is preformulation
the first stage of formulation development process
- a collation of steps that are performed before actual formulation development is started
- logical sequence of events
- must be performed for all types of dosage forms
what are the pre-requisites for pre formulation
- synthesis- a small amount of the drug has been synthesised with suitable purity
- pharmacology- the drug has demonstrated the desired pharmacological effect in animal models or cell culture models
- toxicology- toxicity of the drug has been determined
what is the 1st step in preformulation
development of analytical techniques
- to determine identity
- to assay the drug
what can be used for identifying the drug substance
spectroscopy
- NMR
-MS
-UV/VIS
-IR
also give us the purity of the drug molecules and identification of any potential contaminants
why do we need accurate analytical data
to accurately determine the concentration of the drug in the dosage form and in biological samples
what methods are available to determine the concentration of a substance in a matrix formulation, biological sample or extraction sample
- traditional methods- TLC, UV/VIS, simple HPLC
- modern methods- HPLC-MS, UPLC-MS
What properties should an analytical method have for validation
- sensitive
- selective
- reproducible
how do you validate an analytical method
- basic information
- MW
- purity
- chemical structure
- any info on synthetic impurities or degradation products - physicochemical parameters
- solubility
- pKa
- partition coefficient
how is data interpreted following method validation
- prepare a calibration plot or linear response graph for the drug
- extract the drug from the formulation into a solvent
- analyse the sample using the method
- calculate the concentration in the sample
give examples of physicochemical properties of a drug
- particle size
- crystal properties
- solubility
- pKa
- log P
- dissolution
- organoleptic properties
what does particle size directly influence
- solubility and dissolution rate
- content uniformity in the final dosage form
- flow characteristics
- sedimentation rate
- bioavailability
what is the recommend particle size for inhalation
<5um in diameter
- eg corticosteroids and bronchodilators
what is the recommended particle size for suspensions
> 1um in diameter
- should have some degree of wettability
what can be the problems with crystal properties
- uneven crystal shapes
- difficult to formulate as crystal shape affects flow properties
what can be used to obtain uniform crystal shapes
- crushing
- spray drying
how do crystal properties affect melting point
require only a small amount of material to get information regarding stability and solubility
what can be used to measure crystals
- capillary melting point apparatus
- hot stage microscopy
- differential scanning calorimetry or thermal analysis
what is a polymorphism
where a solid material exists with at least 2 different molecular arrangements which give distinct crystal species
what are the types of crystals
- polymorphs
- solvates- contain trace amounts of solvent used for crystallising the drug
- hydrates- water bound to drug molecules
- amorphous
what can differential scanning calorimetry be used to identify
- how many polymorphs of the drug exists
- how stable each form is
- is there a glass transition state
- can the metastable form be stabilised
- how will processing and storage affect stability of the polymorph
- what is the solubility of each polymorph
what is meant by solubility
the maximum amount of drug that can be dissolved in a selected solvent at equilibrium conditions
what are the 2 types of solvents
- aqueous solvents- water, buffer solutions
- non aqueous solvents- oils, waxes
what measure of aqueous solubility represents good bioabsorption
aqueous solubility >10mg/ml
what temperature is intrinsic solubility measured at
measured at 4 degrees and 37 degrees
what are the 2 types of pH of solubilised drug
acidic or basic
what is a weak base
soluble in acidic solution but not in water