A case study on the in silico absorption simulations of levothyroxine sodium immediate-release tablets.

The aim of this case study was to develop a drug-specific absorption model for levothyroxine (LT4) using mechanistic gastrointestinal simulation technology (GIST) implemented in the GastroPlus™ software package. The required input parameters were determined experimentally, in silico predicted and/or taken from the literature. The simulated plasma profile was similar and in a good agreement with the data observed in the in vivo bioequivalence study, indicating that the GIST model gave an accurate prediction of LT4 oral absorption. Additionally, plasma concentration-time profiles were simulated based on a set of experimental and virtual in vitro dissolution data in order to estimate the influence of different in vitro drug dissolution kinetics on the simulated plasma profiles and to identify biorelevant dissolution specification for LT4 immediate-release (IR) tablets. A set of experimental and virtual in vitro data was also used for correlation purposes. In vitro-in vivo correlation model based on the convolution approach was applied in order to assess the relationship between the in vitro and in vivo data. The obtained results suggest that dissolution specification of more than 85% LT4 dissolved in 60 min might be considered as biorelevant dissolution specification criteria for LT4 IR tablets.

Biopharmaceutical characterization of ciprofloxacin HCl-ferrous sulfate interaction.

The ciprofloxacin-iron interaction, resulting in a lower bioavailability, is well documented in vivo; however, a mechanistic explanation supported by experimental data of this interaction is missing. In the present study, ciprofloxacin hydrochloride (HCl) and ferrous sulfate interaction was simulated in vitro by performing solubility and dissolution studies in the reactive media containing ferrous sulfate. Characterization of the precipitate formed indicated its probable chemical structure as Fe(SO(4) (2-) )(2) (Cl(-) )(2) (ciprofloxacin)(2) × (H(2) O)(n) , where n is up to 12 molecules of water. The solubility of this complex in water was estimated to be approximately 2 mg/mL, being about 20-fold lower than the solubility of ciprofloxacin HCl. The solubility of the complex was used as input parameter for an in silico modeling by GastroPlus™ and the resulting predicted plasma time curves were in good agreement with the in vivo data. These results strongly indicate that ciprofloxacin-iron interaction in vivo is caused by the formation of a low soluble complex. This interaction was also simulated by in vitro dissolution, in which a mini scale apparatus provided more biorelevant results than the standard dissolution apparatus, probably because the drug concentrations in the mini apparatus were higher and, thus, closer to the conditions encountered in vivo.

In vitro-in vivo correlation for gliclazide immediate-release tablets based on mechanistic absorption simulation.

The aim of this study was to develop a drug-specific absorption model for gliclazide (GLK) using mechanistic gastrointestinal simulation technology (GIST) implemented in GastroPlus(TM) software package. A range of experimentally determined, in silico predicted or literature data were used as input parameters. Experimentally determined pH-solubility profile was used for all simulations. The human jejunum effective permeability (P (eff)) value was estimated on the basis of in vitro measured Caco-2 permeability (literature data). The required PK inputs were taken from the literature. The results of the simulations were compared with actual clinical data and revealed that the GIST-model gave accurate prediction of gliclazide oral absorption. The generated absorption model provided the target in vivo dissolution profile for in vitro-in vivo correlation and identification of biorelevant dissolution specification for GLK immediate-release (IR) tablets. A set of virtual in vitro data was used for correlation purposes. The obtained results suggest that dissolution specification of more than 85% GLK dissolved in 60 min may be considered as "biorelevant" dissolution acceptance criteria for GLK IR tablets.

Mathematical modeling of pH-surfactant-mediated solubilization of nimesulide.

AIM: The equilibrium-based mathematical model was used to describe the pH-surfactant-mediated solubilization of weakly acidic electrolyte, nimesulide, in buffer solutions. This model assumed that the total drug solubility could be expressed as a sum of the solubilities of four different species: unionized and ionized form in solution and their corresponding micellar forms. Sucrose-laurate, new synthetic surfactant, and polysorbate 80 were investigated for their benefits in the testing of poorly soluble acidic model drug. METHOD: Two sets of solubility data, determined at pH values 4.5 and 9.0 in media containing different surfactant concentrations, were used to calculate solubilization slopes and corresponding micellar equilibrium constants for the unionized (Kn) and ionized (K(i)) drug. These values were used to estimate drug solubilization in media considered to represent physiologically relevant conditions. RESULTS: Predicted solubility values were in good agreement with the experimental data, suggesting that the impact of pH and surfactant on nimesulide solubility could be well characterized by the equilibrium model described in this article. CONCLUSIONS: Obtained results indicated that the extent of solubilization was significantly dependent on the surfactant used.