What Happens when an Amorphous Polymer is Mixed with a Crystalline Drug to Form a Long-Acting Injectable System?
Dr. Ligia de Souza, NETZSCH-Gerätebau GmbH
Long-acting injectable systems (LAI) are made of a solid or gel matrix loaded with an active drug. Such systems provide sustained drug release over time, increasing the patient’s convenience and compliance. Polymeric microparticles, solid implants and in situ gel-forming implants loaded with different drugs have been approved by regulatory agencies and are commercially available.
Production of such systems implies that both, the polymer and drug, will be subjected to harsh manufacturing processes, such as solubilization and solvent evaporation, heating, and freeze-drying. Additionally, polymer-drug chemical interactions may also occur during production. The impact of manufacturing on the individual compounds should not be neglected. Changes in glass transition, melting and crystallization behavior of the single components and of the final formulation yield valuable information about chemical interactions and stability.
During this presentation, we will analyze and interpret different thermal effects observed on the polymer and drug in a microparticle formulation, exploring the DSC application and shedding light on the interpretation of DSC curves.
We thank Prof. Dr. Karsten Mäder for his kind assistance in sample preparation.
Ligia de Souza has a degree in Pharmacy and Master’s degree in Biological Sciences from UFMG – Brazil. She did her doctorate in pharmaceutical technology at Martin-Luther University Halle-Wittenberg , where she also worked as a post-doctoral researcher on the development and characterization of drug delivery systems. Currently, she works as application scientist with the application of thermal analysis in the field of pharma, cosmetics, and food at NETZSCH Analyzing & Testing.