Practical Solutions for Poorly Soluble Drugs

The therapeutic efficacy of a drug depends upon its bioavailability, which is directly correlated to its solubility. Many drugs, both in development and on the market, are poorly soluble in aqueous media, which can lead to poor bioavailability, and frequently results in variable dissolution rates. To achieve the desired drug concentration in systemic circulation to elicit a pharmacological response, solubility is paramount. Yet, less than 10% of new drug candidates demonstrate both high solubility and permeability, and 30–40% of the drugs that appear on the World Health Organisation (WHO) Essential Drug List were reported to be poorly water-soluble or lipophilic, based on the Biopharmaceutics Classification System (BCS). This whitepaper discusses laboratory scale formulation expertise and equipment in three distinct technologies.