New pharmaceutical excipients in solid dosage forms – A review

The objective of a medicinal formulation development project is to deliver drug to the patient in the required amount, at the required rate, consistently within a batch, from batch to batch, and over the product’s shelf life. To produce a drug substance in a final dosage form requires pharmaceutical ingredients. In selecting excipients for pharmaceutical; dosage forms and drug products the development pharmacist should be certain that standards exist and are available to assure the consistent quality and functioning of the excipient from lot to lot. The development of new materials for use as pharmaceutical excipients requires the demonstration of the absence of toxicity and freedom from adverse reactions. The selection and testing of nonactive ingredients or excipient in the design of drug dosage form present to the formulator the challenge of predictive foresight. While the ability to solve problems when they occur is a valuable attribute, the ability to prevent the problem through adequate experimental design is a virtue. Newer excipients provide the means for simplifying formulation development, and improving overall operational costs while preserving the quality that is expected by the industry. The present review focus on such newer Excipients which have proved their potential in developing efficient solid dosage forms. Key-Words: Pharmaceutical excipients, Nonactive ingredients, Solid dosage form Introduction Pharmaceutical excipients are substances other than the pharmacologically active drug or prodrug which are include in the manufacturing process or are contained in a finished pharmaceutical product dosage form. 2 Excipients play a wide variety of functional roles in pharmaceutical dosage form, including: • Modulating solubility & bioavailability of APIs, • Increasing the stability of active ingredients in dosage forms, • Helping active ingredients maintains preferred polymorphic forms or conformations, • Maintaining the pH and /or osmolarity of the liquid formulations, • Acting as antioxidants, emulsifying agents, aerosol propellants, tablet binders, and tablet disintegrants, • Preventing aggregation or dissociation (e.g. of protein and polysaccharide actives), • Modulating immunogenic responses of active ingredients (e.g. adjuvants), and more. * Corresponding Author: E-mail: [email protected] Mob.: +91-9277202747 Approval of excipients Under U.S. law, an experiment, unlike an active drug substance, has no regulatory status and may not be sold for use in food or approved drugs unless it can be qualified through one or more of the three U.S. Food and Drug administration (FDA) approval mechanisms that are available for components used in food and/or finished new drug dosage forms. These mechanisms are: • Determination by FDA that the substance is “generally recognized as safe” (GRAS) pursuant to Title 21, U.S. Code of federal regulation, parts 182, 184 or 186 (21 CFR182, 184 & 186) ; • Approval of food additive petition as set forth in 21 CFR 171: or • The excipient is referenced in, and part of, an approved new drug application (NDA) for a particular function in that specific drug product. Excipients contained in over-the-counter (OTC) drug products subject to FDA monographs referenced in 21CFR parts 331-358 must comply with the requirements in 21CFR 330.1 (e) which reads as for “The product contains only suitable inactive ingredients which are safe in the amounts administered & do not interfere with the effectiveness of the preparation or with suitable test or assays to determine if the product meets its professed standards of identity, strength, quality, & purity. Color additives may be used Review Article [Patel et al., 2(8): Aug., 2011]