The College of Pharmacy, University of Baghdad, discussed the MSc thesis entitled “Mechanistic Investigation of Drug Release Process from Soluplus® Amorphous Solid Dispersions Using Two Model Drugs” by the student Jannat Falah Hassan, supervised by Assistant Professor Dr. Kawthar Khalid Ahmed from the Department of Pharmaceutics, College of Pharmacy, University of Baghdad, and Assistant Professor Dr. Tze Ning Hiew from the College of Pharmacy, The University of Iowa, USA.
The study aimed to investigate the mechanism of drug release from Soluplus®-based amorphous solid dispersions using loratadine and prednisolone as two model drugs, and to evaluate the effect of drug loading on their physical properties, solubility, and dissolution behavior.
The study involved preparation of amorphous solid dispersions by rotary evaporation technique using different drug loadings, followed by comprehensive characterization employing differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) coupled with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), as well as solubility testing, intrinsic dissolution, non-sink dissolution studies, and nanodroplet size analysis using dynamic light scattering (DLS) with the aim of correlating solid-state characteristics with drug release behavior.
The results demonstrated that lower drug loading in the amorphous solid dispersions improved drug solubility and increased the dissolution rate, while also enhancing supersaturation stability and reducing drug recrystallization. In contrast, higher drug loading increased nanoparticle size, accelerated drug precipitation, and delayed drug release due to differences in the nature of drug–polymer interactions.
The study demonstrated that combining intrinsic dissolution, DLS, and SEM/EDX provides a simple and interpretable approach for understanding drug–polymer interactions in amorphous solid dispersions (ASDs), offering a practical framework to guide the development of formulation strategies for other poorly water-soluble drugs.
The findings of the study have been published in the Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences, published by Elsevier. The journal is recognized as a reputable international journal and is ranked within the second quartile, with an Impact Factor of 3.9 and CiteScore of 6.6.
