BASF has launched an innovative excipient that forms solid solutions with poorly soluble drug substances, thereby improving their bioavailability.
Soluplus was developed specifically for pharmaceuticals produced by hot melt extrusion. The technology is becoming increasingly important in drug development and production because it is ideal for formulating novel drug substances that in many cases are barely soluble and not sufficiently absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract.
With hot melt extrusion, the individual ingredients of a medicine are not simply compressed into a tablet. Instead, a polymer like Soluplus is added to the ingredients and the combination is mixed and melted at high temperatures in an extruder.
The process yields what are called solid solutions, enabling poorly soluble drugs with otherwise limited bioavailability to be administered in tablet form - something that would not be possible with conventional excipients.