Drug formulation development process parameters

Within the realm of physical reality, and most important in pharmaceutical systems, the unconstrained optimization problem is almost nonexistent. There are always restrictions that the formulator wishes to place or must place on a system, and in pharmaceuticals, many of these restrictions are in competition. For example, it is unreasonable to assume, as just described, that the hardest tablet possible would also have the lowest compression and ejection forces and the fastest disintegration time and dissolution profile. It is sometimes necessary to trade off properties, that is, to sacrifice one characteristic for another. Thus, the primary objective may not be to optimize absolutely (i.e., a maxima or minima), but to realize an overall pre selected or desired result for each characteristic or parameter. Drug products are often developed by teaching an effective compromise between competing characteristics to achieve the best formulation and process within a given set of restrictions. 

Development studies, summarized within a distinct report on the physiochemical aspects, drug substance attributes, and finished product characteristics, become critical parts of the validation package. Such data is also valuable for future integration into a manufacturing operation. This includes the scientific rationale for formulating and bulk-handling procedures, lyophilization processing parameters, finished product analysis, and stability requirements. 

Furthermore, pharmacokinetic administration, distribution, metabolism and excretion (ADME) factors affect drug bioavailability, efficacy and safety, and, thus, are a vital consideration in the selection process of oral drug candidates in development pipelines. Since solubility, permeability, and the fraction of dose absorbed are fundamental BCS parameters that affect ADME, these BCS parameters should prove useful in drug discovery and development. In particular, the classification can used to make the development process more efficient.For example, in the case of a drug placed in BCS Class II where dissolution is the rate-limiting step to absorption, formulation principles such as polymorph selection, salt selection, complex formation, and particle size reduction (i.e., nanoparticles) could be applied earlier in development to improve bioavailability. 

Level C correlation This correlation describes a relationship between the amount of drug dissolved (e.g., percent dissolved in one hour) at one time point and one pharmacokinetic parameter [e.g., either area under the curve (AUC) or Cmaxl-Level C correlation is considered the lowest correlation level as it does not reflect the complete shape of the plasma concentration time curve. Similarly, a multiple Level C correlation relates one or more pharmacokinetic parameters to the percent drug dissolved at several time points of the dissolution profile and thus may be more useful. Levels B and C correlations can be useful in early formulation development, including the selection of the appropriate excipients, optimization of manufacturing processes, for quality control purposes, and characterization of the release patterns of newly formulated immediate-release and modified-release products relative to the reference. 

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