Method for screening of solid dispersion formulations of low-solubility compounds--miniaturization and automation of solvent casting and dissolution testing.

An efficient method has been developed for screening solid dispersion formulations that are intended to enhance the dissolution of poorly soluble compounds. The method is based on miniaturization and automation of sample preparation by solvent casting, and dissolution testing, in a 96-well plate format, using less than 0.1mg of compound per well. To illustrate the method, six polymers and eight surfactants were screened, individually and in combination, for their ability to dissolve a compound with aqueous solubility of < 1 microg/ml in simulated intestinal fluid. Screening was performed at an excipient/compound ratio of 10:1, and a polymer/surfactant ratio of 3:1 for ternary formulations. Sixteen of the 48 ternary formulations dissolved the compound to a level > 100 microg/ml, i.e. at least a 100-fold increase over the aqueous solubility. A number of synergies were observed wherein the performance of a ternary formulation greatly exceeded that of either of the corresponding binary formulations. Thirteen 'hits' from screening were scaled up with melt methods, and approximately 2/3 of these showed comparable dissolution enhancement when tested at larger scale. Five of these were administered to rats, and the absolute oral bioavailability ranged from 10 to 23%, versus less than 1% for the unformulated compound.

Screening method to identify preclinical liquid and semi-solid formulations for low solubility compounds: miniaturization and automation of solvent casting and dissolution testing.

We have developed an efficient screening method to identify liquid and semisolid formulations for low-solubility compounds. The method is most suitable for identifying dosing vehicles for compounds in lead optimization, where compound supply is limited and long-term stability is not a requirement. Dilute compound and excipient stock solutions are prepared in organic solvent and then dispensed and mixed in 96-well plates. The solvent is removed in a vacuum centrifuge evaporator, leaving neat formulation (e.g., 10-40 microg compound, 0.4 mg excipient) at the bottom of each well. After an aging step, an aqueous dilution medium is added and the plates are incubated (agitation by orbital shaking). The diluted formulations are then filtered and analyzed by ultraviolet (UV) absorbance or high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). To illustrate the method, two compounds (aqueous solubility

Parallel screening approach to identify solubility-enhancing formulations for improved bioavailability of a poorly water-soluble compound using milligram quantities of material.

In this article, we present a parallel experimentation approach to rapidly identify a solubility-enhancing formulation that improved the bioavailability of a poorly water-soluble compound using milligrams of material. The lead compound and a panel of excipients were dissolved in n-propanol and dispensed into the wells of a 96-well microtiter plate by a TECAN robot. Following solvent evaporation, the neat formulations were diluted with an aqueous buffer, and incubated for 24h. The solubilization capacity of the excipients for the compound at 24h (SC(24h)), was determined by HPLC, and compared with its solubility in the corresponding neat formulations determined by a bench-scale method. The ranking order of solubilization capacity of the five tested formulations for this compound by this microscreening assay is same as the ranking order of the compound solubility in the neat formulations. Several formulations that achieved the target aqueous solubility were identified using the screening method. One of the top formulations, an aqueous solution of the compound containing 20% Tween 80 by weight, increased the compound solubility from less than 2 microg/mL to at least 10mg/mL. In a rat pharmacokinetic (PK) study, the Tween 80 formulation achieved 26.6% of bioavailability, a significant improvement over 3.4% of bioavailability for the aqueous Methocel formulation (p<0.01). The results in the study suggest that this parallel screening assay can be potentially used to rapidly identify solubility-enhancing formulations for an improved bioavailability of poorly water-soluble compounds using milligram quantities of material.