Design and optimization of drugs used to treat copper deficiency.

INTRODUCTION: Copper is an essential element in the human organism. Furthermore, copper deficiency is rare; however, the hematologic manifestations associated with copper deficiency, such as anemia, leukopenia, neutropenia, myeloneuropathy and osteoporosis, are well known. AREAS COVERED: The authors present an overview of the various commercially available drugs used in the treatment of copper deficiency. Furthermore, the authors offer a description of copper complexes, as potential pharmaceutically active compounds, that can be used in the design of new formulations with therapeutic potential. EXPERT OPINION: Progress in the synthesis of new metallo-organic complexes (such as the copper-pullulan complex) and the chelated form of copper have provided new avenues for drug design that combat copper deficiency. The copper-pullulan complex, as an active compound, has been designed in its solid dosage form, and its optimization in the treatment of copper deficiency has been furthered through advancements in experimental design methodology. The authors believe that the numerous ongoing studies, evaluating the synthesis of these complexes, should produce new additions to the copper deficiency therapeutic armamentarium in the future.

Application of mathematical modeling for the development and optimization formulation with bioactive copper complex.

New formulation for treatment a copper deficiency in human organism was developed and optimized by application of mathematical modeling. This formulation contained copper (II) complex with polysaccharide pullulan, as active substance. The binder concentration [polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP %)], the disintegrant concentration (corn starch %) and the resistance to crushing (hardness) were taken as independent variables. In vitro measured drug release characteristics of the tablets at pH 1.20 and 7.56 were studied as response variables. Initially, the created full factorial 2(3) model showed that the resistance to crushing has the most significant effect on copper (II) complex release from the formulation. Optimal tablet formulation F2, with lower Hardness (50 N), lower Starch (20.0%) and higher PVP (2.7%) concentrations, is selected using the partial least squares (PLS) regression modeling. The selected formulation F2 has expressed the best drug release profile at both pH (98.66% pH = 1.20; 93.35% pH = 7.56), and the lowest variation of tablets weight. The presented theoretical approach and created PLS model can be readily applied in future copper complexes studies and formulation design.

Development and optimization of formulation for treatment of copper deficiency in human organism.

The aim of this study was to design and optimize a new tablet formulation for treatment of copper deficiency in human organism by using an experimental design. The new no-veneered tablets, prepared by a wet granulation technique, are containg active substance, a copper(II) complex with polysaccharide pullulan. The binder concentration, the disintegrant concentration and the resistance to crushing were used as independent variables in the formulation, while in vitro measured drug release characteristics of the tablets was response variable in a full factorial design 2(3) modeling. A cubic model for data fitted was used to examine the obtained results. They showed that the resistance to crushing has the most significant effect on copper(II) complex release from the formulation, while the disintegrant concentration has smaller influence on dissolution profile of copper(II) complex and the binder concentration had minor impact in this study. Lower value of resistance to crushing has influence on better dissolution profile. Furthermore, physical characteristics of the tablets were evaluated, viz., drug content, hardness, thickness, friability, disintegration time, mass variation, particle size and size distribution.