Preparation of drug nanocrystals embedded in mannitol microcrystals via liquid antisolvent precipitation followed by immediate (on-line) spray drying

Abstract The aim of this study is to investigate the feasibility of producing pharmaceutical nanoformulations for enhanced oral or pulmonary delivery of poorly water-soluble drugs via liquid antisolvent precipitation followed by immediate (on-line) spray drying. A poorly water-soluble corticosteroid, budesonide, was chosen as the model drug. Budesonide nanoparticles were prepared through liquid antisolvent precipitation, and then processed into a powdered nanoformulation which consists of budesonide nanoparticles embedded in mannitol microcrystals by immediate (on-line) spray drying. The size of the freshly precipitated and the reconstituted budesonide particles was analyzed by dynamic light scattering (DLS). The spray-dried nanoformulation, together with budesonide and mannitol raw materials, their physical mixture and the spray-dried mannitol, were characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD). In vitro dissolution test and aerosol deposition study were conducted on the spray-dried nanoformulation and the physical mixture of budesonide and mannitol raw materials. It was found that the spray-dried nanoformulation, consisting of mannitol microcrystals comprising budesonide nanocrystals with z-average mean size of 520 ± 11.4 nm, exhibited enhanced drug dissolution rate and higher fine particle fraction (FPF). The results of this study indicated the potential of the combined process of liquid antisolvent precipitation followed by immediate (on-line) spray drying to be used as a direct and continuous formulation process to produce powdered nanoformulations to achieve enhanced oral or pulmonary delivery of poorly water-soluble drugs.