Selection of suitable drug and excipient candidates to prepare glass solutions by melt extrusion for immediate release oral formulations

Using melt extrusion to prepare glass solutions of poorly water-soluble drugs with hydrophilic excipients offers an exciting and advantageous alternative to existing formulation methods such as spray-drying and co-melting. Investigating potential methods to increase water solubility begins early in drug development. Techniques described in this paper show how only a small quantity of drug can be used to determine its suitability for melt extrusion, allowing the method to be considered at the same time as salt screening and particle size reduction work, and could speed up the formulation process.