Dr Alison Savage

Many active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) exhibit poor aqueous solubility, which can often impact on the bioavailability of the drug when taken as a therapy. Recently, a strategy for formulating antiretroviral drugs into solid drug nanoparticles (SDNs) has been presented, with the resulting products exhibiting enhanced oral pharmacokinetics (PK). Preparation of these nanoparticles relies on an emulsion-templated freeze-drying method to screen different polymers and surfactants, with the drug dissolved in an organic phase and water soluble polymers and surfactants present in the aqueous phase. Once ideal excipients are identified and studied for reproducibility, stability and pharmacological behaviour, the method can be translated to spray-drying for scale-up and manufacture. We have adopted the solid drug nanoparticle strategy for various poorly water-soluble APIs, with the hopes to improve bioavailability when utilised in different dosage forms, such as oral or long acting injectable delivery.