Influence of polymer molecular weight on in vitro dissolution behavior and in vivo performance of celecoxib:PVP amorphous solid dispersions.

In this study, the influence of the molecular weight of polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) on the non-sink in vitro dissolution and in vivo performance of celecoxib (CCX):PVP amorphous solid dispersions were investigated. The dissolution rate of CCX from the amorphous solid dispersions increased with decreasing PVP molecular weight and crystallization inhibition was increased with increasing molecular weight of PVP, but reached a maximum for PVP K30. This suggested that the crystallization inhibition was not proportional with molecular weight of the polymer, but rather there was an optimal molecular weight where the crystallization inhibition was strongest. Consistent with the findings from the non-sink in vitro dissolution tests, the amorphous solid dispersions with the highest molecular weight PVPs (K30 and K60) resulted in significantly higher in vivo bioavailability (AUC0-24h) compared with pure amorphous and crystalline CCX. A linear relationship between the in vitro and in vivo parameter AUC0-24h indicated that the simple non-sink in vitro dissolution method used in this study could be used to predict the in vivo performance of amorphous solid dispersion with good precision, which enabled a ranking between the different formulations. In conclusion, the findings of this study demonstrated that the in vitro and in vivo performance of CCX:PVP amorphous solid dispersions were significantly controlled by the molecular weight of the polymer.

Influence of Copolymer Composition on In Vitro and In Vivo Performance of Celecoxib-PVP/VA Amorphous Solid Dispersions.

Previous studies suggested that an amorphous solid dispersion with a copolymer consisting of both hydrophobic and hydrophilic monomers could improve the dissolution profile of a poorly water-soluble drug compared to the crystalline form. Therefore, this study investigated the influence of the copolymer composition of polyvinylpyrrolidone/vinyl acetate (PVP/VA) on the non-sink in vitro dissolution behavior and in vivo performance of celecoxib (CCX) amorphous solid dispersions. The study showed that the hydrophilic monomer vinylpyrrolidone (VP) was responsible for the generation of CCX supersaturation whereas the hydrophobic monomer vinyl acetate (VA) was responsible for the stabilization of the supersaturated solution. For CCX, there was an optimal copolymer composition around 50-60% VP content where further replacement of VP monomers with VA monomers did not have any biopharmaceutical advantages. A linear relationship was found between the in vitro AUC(0-4h) and in vivo AUC(0-24h) for the CCX:PVP/VA systems, indicating that the non-sink in vitro dissolution method applied in this study was useful in predicting the in vivo performance. These results indicated that when formulating a poorly water-soluble drug as an amorphous solid dispersion using a copolymer, the copolymer composition has a significant influence on the dissolution profile and in vivo performance. Thus, the dissolution profile of a drug can theoretically be tailored by changing the monomer ratio of a copolymer with respect to the required in vivo plasma-concentration profile. As this ratio is likely to be drug dependent, determining the optimal ratio between the hydrophilic (dissolution enhancing) and hydrophobic (crystallization inhibiting) monomers for a given drug is imperative.