Drug substance crystal form

Drug Substance Crystal Form (Final Form)... 

Sustained release from disperse systems such as emulsions and suspensions can be achieved by the adsorption of appropriate mesogenic molecules at the interface. The drug substance, which forms the inner phase or is included in the dispersed phase, cannot pass the liquid ciystals at the interface easily and thus diffuses slowly into the continuous phase and from there into the organism via the site of application. This sustained drug release is especially pronounced in the case of multilamellar liquid crystals at the interface. 

Polymorphism is an ability of the drug substance to form crystals with different molecular arrangements giving distinct crystal species with different physical properties such as solubility, hygroscopicity, compressibility, and others. This phenomenon is well known within pharmaceutical companies. The reader can find additional information in references 47 and 48. The determination of possible polymorphic transition and existence of thermodynamically unstable forms during preformulation stage of drug development is important. Typical methods used for solid-state characterization of polymorphism are DSC,... 

The atomic spectroscopist is typically involved in supporting a new potential drug candidate before the final salt and/or crystal form have been selected. Several forms of the drug substance (salt forms, and/or polymorphs) are considered during the discovery phase and are generated in small laboratory batches via several synthetic pathways or crystallization procedures. The atomic spectroscopy laboratory plays an important role in the selection of the final form by assaying these samples for trace metals, salt counter-ions and trace catalysts used in the syntheses. Once a final form has been selected, testing continues to support the optimization of the synthetic process. 

Many dry solid parenteral products, such as the cephalosporins, are prepared by sterile crystallization techniques. Control of the crystallization process to obtain a consistent and uniform crystal form, habit, density, and size distribution is particularly critical for drug substances to be utilized in sterile suspensions. For example, when the crystallization process for sterile ceftazidime pentahydrate was modified to increase the density and reduce the volume of the fill dose, the rate of dissolution increased significantly. 

Methoxypurine was found to crystallize as a hemihydrate from /V,/V -dimethyl formamide, and as a trihydrate from water [63]. Thermal treatment of the trihydrate could be used to obtain the hemihydrate. Zafirlukast was obtained in the form of monohydrate, methanol, and ethanol solvatomorphs, with the drug substance adopting a similar conformation in all three structures [64], In the isostructural methanol and ethanol solvates, the solvent molecules are hydrogen-bonded to two zafirlukast molecules, while in the monohydrate, the water molecules are hydrogen-bonded to three zafirlukast molecules. The structures of the acetone and isopropanol solvatomorphs of brucine have been reported, where the solvent controlled the self-assembly of brucine on the basis of common donor-acceptor properties [65],... 

The structure of the 1 1 methanol solvate of olanzapine has been reported, where pairs of olanzapine molecules form a centrosymmetric dimer by means of C—H—-7t interactions [66]. The solvent molecule was linked to the drug substance through O—H-N, N—H O, and C—interactions. In a new polymorph of the 1 1 dioxane solvatomorph of (+)-pinoresinol, the structure was stabilized by O—H O hydrogen bonds between the compound and the solvent [67], Two new polymorphs of 2-cyano-3-[4-(/Y,jV-diethylamino)-phenyl]prop-2-enethioamide and its acetonitrile solvatomorph have been characterized [68], Although crystallization of the title compound was conducted out of a number of solvents, only the acetonitrile solvatomorph could be formed. 

The hydration equilibria and phase transformations associated with a cytotoxic drug, BBR3576, have been studied [72]. The initially hydrated form could be made to undergo a phase transition where it lost approximately half of its water content, but the hemidesolvated product could be easily rehydrated to regenerate the starting material. If however, the original sample was completely dehydrated, the substance first formed a metastable anhydrate phase that underwent an irreversible exothermic transition to a new anhydrate crystal form. The hydration of this latter anhydrate form yielded a new hydrate phase whose structure was different from that of the initial material. 

It is essential to understand how and when the polymorphs of drug substance in oral liquid dosage forms and suspensions can be controlled. One approach to study this phenomenon is to seed the formulation with a small amount of a known polymorphic crystal (other than what is used for the product), which is a common practice to rapidly determine what effect this may have on long-term storage. From these types of studies, the appropriate excipients can be used to preserve the specific polymorphic form desired. However, even when the drug in its crystalline form is studied extensively, there are cases when a previously unknown polymorph may be formed in solution and lead to precipitation (14). 

Dissolution of a drug substance is controlled by several physicochemical properties, including solubility, surface area, and wetting properties. For insoluble compounds, dissolution is often the rate-limiting step in the absorption process. Knowledge ofthe dissolution rate of a drug substance is therefore very useful for formulation development. The appropriate dissolution experiments can help to identify factors that contribute to bioavailability problems, and also assist in the selection of the appropriate crystal form and/or salt form. Dissolution tests are also used for other purposes such as quality control and assisting with the determination of bioequivalence (Dressman et al., 1998). 

The importance of polymorphism in pharmaceuticals cannot be overemphasized. Some crystal structures contain molecules of water or solvents, known as hydrates or solvates, respectively, and they are also called as pseudopolymorphs. Identifying all relevant polymorphs and solvates at an early stage of development for new chemical entities has become a well-accepted concept in pharmaceutical industry. For poorly soluble compounds, understanding their polymorphic behavior is even more important since solubility, crystal shape, dissolution rate, and bioavailability may vary with the polymorphic form. Conversion of a drug substance to a more thermodynamically stable form in the formulation can signiLcantly increase the development cost or even result in product failure. 

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