William Wei Lim Chin, technical specialist, Science and Technology at Catalent explains why spray drying is essential for overcoming solubility issues.
Solubility
Developers and manufacturers are frequently turning to spray dried dispersions (SDDs) as a means of overcoming the solubility challenges presented by many new medicines. Spray-dried dispersions have some unique characteristics, and there are some important formulation and processing parameters to be considered when creating an amorphous solid dispersion (ASD) and incorporating ASDs into common dosage forms.
For formulators, solubility is a persistent challenge to delivering the therapeutic benefits of a treatment, and one that, if not properly addressed in the early stages of development, can be costly, both in terms of time and money to solve later. It is estimated that nearly 40% of the new chemical entities (NCEs) screened by pharmaceutical companies fail to progress to later stages of development due to poor aqueous solubility1. This puts an onus on formulators to improve the bioavailability of poorly soluble drug molecules to ensure that life-changing drugs are not abandoned and can reach their true potential, and the patients who need them.