Spray drying and fluid bed coating are established technologies in the pharmaceutical industry to create amorphous, soluble forms of active ingredients.
These technologies are used for the production of solid dispersions to overcome solubility challenges of drug candidates. These techniques are especially suited for thermally labile, and also relevant to inhalable particles. Rapidly spraying a solution of dissolved polymer and active ingredient traps the active in its amorphous form within the polymer carrier, whether as a free powder, as from spray drying, or coated onto existing microspheres or granules, as from fluid bed coating. Key for a successful spray process is the use of the right functional polymer to ensure a stable solid dispersion that is dissolved in the spray solvent.
BASF offers a wide range of functional polymers to choose from that are soluble at high loadings for maximized efficiency