Considerations and recommendations on traditional and non-traditional uses of excipients in oral drug products

Excipients represent diverse classes of molecules, small molecules or macromolecules, with versatile structures within a given class and are from natural, semi-synthetic and synthetic sources. They are essential ingredients in drug products independently of the route of administration where both traditional and non-traditional uses are present. Beyond their traditional use as formulation and manufacturing aids, certain excipients exhibit biological effects and thus can be used either as atypical active pharmaceutical ingredients alone or synergistically with conventional active pharmaceutical ingredients to affect the overall pharmacokinetics/ pharmacodynamics and therapeutic effect(s) of the co-administered drug(s). In reference to oral drugs, biological effects of the excipients that contribute to improved drug absorption and pharmacokinetics include their ability to modulate drug dissolution, intestinal membrane permeability, gut wall metabolism and efflux pumps. These non-traditional uses of excipients are illustrated in representative case studies from published literature. From a drug development and regulatory perspective, it is apparent that an appropriate excipient classification system is considered which is applied to new uses of existing excipients as well as to the development of novel excipients and segregates biologically active excipients from the larger pool of excipients. This classification system should be a useful tool to pharmaceutical scientists and its successful implementation and broader acceptance requires input and ownership from all major stakeholders, that is, the excipient manufacturers, the end users, excipient forums and discussion groups such as the International Pharmaceutical Excipients Council (IPEC) and regulatory agencies.