Trends and Innovations in Oral Drug Delivery Round Table

摘要

Over the recent years the share of BCS class II (low solubility, high permeability) drug candidates in the pipelines of innovator companies has grown to about 70% of the overall candidate portfolio. For many of these candidates their low solubility in the Gl tract directly translates into poor bioavailability. Hence, one of the most important areas for oral drug delivery has been overcoming the solubility-driven bioavailability challenges of these compounds. Specific technologies developed to address this issue have helped to enable several important novel medicines and also to improve upon existing ones via lifecycle management efforts. Among the technologies developed to date, four stand out due to the fact that applying them, highly relevant medicines have been introduced into the market and are available to the patient today. These four technologies are: self-emulsifying drug delivery systems, nanocrystal formulations, solid dispersions made by hot melt extrusion, and spray dried solid dispersions.