The College of Pharmacy discussed the PhD dissertation entitled “Preparation of Metal-Organic Frameworks Loaded with Niclosamide Pseudopolymorphs and Study of Its Impact on the Solubility and Stability of the Anhydrous Form” by the student Hayder Yahya Mansoor and his supervisor, Professor Dr. Mowafaq M. Ghareeb, at the Pharmaceutics Department.The objectives of the study were to prepare the metal-organic framework (MOF-5) using the solvothermal method, to use the Taguchi orthogonal array to optimize synthesis parameters, to load niclosamide into the produced MOF-5, and to study its impact on the improvement of solubility and dissolution in three different media. An animal study was conducted on rabbits to compare the prepared product with the commercially available drug product on the market. Manufacturing at 130 °C for 60 hours in a 50-ml vessel resulted in the highest crystallinity. The solubility of niclosamide significantly improved after incorporation into MOF-5 in all media, with the greatest improvement being 4.6 times. Dissolution also significantly improved in all media. The animal study showed enhanced drug absorption as the time to reach the maximum concentration was shortened by two hours and the maximum concentration increased by 1.8 times. Additionally, the relative bioavailability improved by more than double (2.73 times). Stability tests confirmed the product’s stability without significant reactions, even after storage for three months. The study concluded that MOF-5 is a viable pharmaceutical formulation method for improving the solubility, dissolution, and bioavailability of niclosamide. The study recommended that the product prepared could have various applications in different fields, such as cancer, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, diabetes, and rheumatic diseases.
