Evaluation of binary mixtures for pre-screening polymeric carries

Abstract

The selection of a polymer to enhance the dissolution rate of a drug can mean the use of multiple tests that make this selection process more expensive since they require highly specialized techniques; however, a reduced approach based on calorimetric and dissolution studies can make the preliminary selection without significative investments. In this work, we carried out a pre-selection of a carrier polymer having the potential to be used in the development of solid dispersions of terbinafine hydrochloride based on the evaluation of binary drug-polymer mixtures. Three polymers with different solubilization mechanisms, PVP-VA, PCAP-PEG and POE-POP were evaluated. PVP-VA and PCAP-PEG copolymers proved to be potential candidates to be assessed for the development of solid dispersions by fusion methods. Both polymers improved the values of dissolution rate and dissolved percentage of terbinafine, lowered the enthalpy of fusion of the drug, and showed thermoplasticity. This study demonstrates a simple and low-cost approach to the pre-selection of feasible polymers in solid dispersion manufacturing.