Drug delivery applications of supercritical fluid technology.

At the 1998 annual meeting of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) held in San Francisco, a symposium entitled 'Drug Delivery Applications of Supercritical Fluid Technology' was presented. Five speakers presented the advances made by their research groups in this area. Various approaches using supercritical fluids as solvents, antisolvents or mechanical agents were employed in forming particles or delivery systems of various drugs, including antibiotics, steroids and macromolecules. The particles obtained with this technology were small, free-flowing, easily wettable and have minimal surface charges. A coating unit employing supercritical CO2 to fluidize the substrates and to remove solvent has been reported. Nasal delivery of insulin was enhanced when the formulations were processed with supercritical CO2. Macromolecules such as insulin and trypsin dissolved in a carrier liquid could be incorporated in preformed microspheres upon supercritical fluid exposure. Thus supercritical fluid technology appears to be a promising new approach to process drugs and their dosage forms.