Formation mechanism of coamorphous drug−amino acid mixtures

Katrine Birgitte Tarp Jensen, Flemming Hofmann Larsen, Claus Cornett, Korbinian Löbmann, Holger Grohganz, Thomas Rades

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Abstract

Two coamorphous drug−amino acid systems, indomethacin−tryptophan (Ind−Trp) and furosemide−tryptophan Fur−Trp), were analyzed toward their ease of amorphization and mechanism of coamorphization during ball milling. The two mixtures were compared to the corresponding amorphization of the pure drug without amino acid. Powder blends at a 1:1 molar ratio were milled for varying times, and their physicochemical properties were investigated using XRPD, 13C solid state NMR (ssNMR), and DSC. Comilling the drug with the amino acid reduced the milling time required to obtain an amorphous powder from more than 90 min in the case of the pure drugs to 30 min for the coamorphous powders. Amorphization was observed as reductions in XRPD reflections and was additionally quantified based on normalized principal component analysis (PCA) scores of the ssNMR spectra. Furthermore, the evolution in the glass temperature (Tg) of the coamorphous systems over time indicated complete coamorphization after 30 min of milling. Based on the DSC data it was possible to identify the formation mechanism of the two coamorphous systems. The Tg position of the samples suggested that coamorphous Ind−Trp was formed by the amino acid being dissolved in the amorphous drug, whereas coamorphous Fur−Trp was formed by the drug being dissolved in the amorphous amino acid.
Original languageEnglish
JournalMolecular Pharmaceutics
Volume12
Issue number7
Pages (from-to)2484−2492
Number of pages9
ISSN1543-8384
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2015

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