PHARMACEUTICAL HOT MELT EXTRUSION A COST EFFECTIVE METHOD TO INCREASE SOLUBILITY

Presented by Dennis Douroumis, Professor in Pharmaceutical Technology and Process Engineering at the University of Greenwich and Dr.-Ing Margarethe Richter, Pharma Application Specialist at Thermo Fisher Scientific.
This presentation
1. Identifies the appropriate excipients for HME processing of water insoluble drugs
2. Using novel excipients to achieve increased dissolution rates (Granulation)
3. Extrusion with polymeric carriers for the development of solid dispersions
4. Co-crystallisation of water insoluble drugs
In the last 20 years Hot Melt Extrusion (HME) has seized the attention of the 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.