title: Clay as a matrix former for spray drying of drug nanosuspensions.
abstract: Utilization of sugars (e.g. lactose, sucrose) as matrix formers for spray drying of drug nanosuspensions is associated with two drawbacks: (1) sugars are incapable of preventing agglomeration of drug nanoparticles (NPs) in the suspension state; and (2) the spray-dried sugars are usually amorphous and hygroscopic. This work aimed to apply a clay, montmorillonite (MMT) as an alternative matrix former for spray drying of drug nanosuspensions with fenofibrate (feno) as a model compound. Drug nanosuspensions were synthesized by liquid antisolvent precipitation with different amount of MMT followed by spray drying. It is found that MMT is able to reduce the agglomeration of drug nanoparticles in the suspension state, as observed from the gradual alleviation of the clogging with the increased clay during the spray drying. The spray-dried feno NPs/MMT powders exhibited a much lower moisture sorption than spray-dried feno NPs/lactose powders as evidenced by the dynamic vapor sorption (DVS) analysis. The dissolution within 5 min for the spray-dried feno NPs/MMT powders at drug:MMT weight ratio of 1:3 was 81.4 ± 1.8% and the total dissolution within 60 min was 93.4 ± 0.9%. Our results demonstrate that MMT is a useful matrix former for preservation of the high dissolution rate of nanosized drug particles after drying.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Chemical and Engineering Sciences, 1 Pesek Road, Jurong Island, 627833, Singapore. Electronic address: dong_yuancai@ices.a-star.edu.sg.
authors.forename: Yuancai
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.affiliation: Institute of Chemical and Engineering Sciences, 1 Pesek Road, Jurong Island, 627833, Singapore.
authors.forename: Wai Kiong
authors.initials: WK
authors.lastname: Ng
authors.affiliation: Institute of Chemical and Engineering Sciences, 1 Pesek Road, Jurong Island, 627833, Singapore.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Institute of Chemical and Engineering Sciences, 1 Pesek Road, Jurong Island, 627833, Singapore.
authors.forename: Shoucang
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.affiliation: Institute of Chemical and Engineering Sciences, 1 Pesek Road, Jurong Island, 627833, Singapore; Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, National University of Singapore, 4 Engineering Drive 4, 119260, Singapore. Electronic address: reginald_tan@ices.a-star.edu.sg.
authors.forename: Reginald B H
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Tan
mesh_terms: D000538:Aluminum Silicates / Q000737:chemistry*; D002152:Calorimetry, Differential Scanning; D002626:Chemistry, Pharmaceutical; D000077215:Clay; D018360:Crystallography, X-Ray; D003890:Desiccation; D011345:Fenofibrate / Q000737:chemistry*; D007700:Kinetics; D049329:Nanostructures; D036103:Nanotechnology; D012995:Solubility; D013678:Technology, Pharmaceutical / Q000379:methods*; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D000538:Aluminum Silicates; D014867:Water; D000077215:Clay; D011345:Fenofibrate
keywords: Clay; Dissolution; Drug nanosuspensions; Montmorillonite; Spray-drying