Purpose: To investigate the use of electrospinning for forming solid dispersions containing crystalline active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) and understand the relevant properties of the resulting materials.
Method: Free surface electrospinning was used to prepare nanofiber mats of poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP) and crystalline albendazole (ABZ) or famotidine (FAM) from a suspension of the drug crystals in a polymer solution. SEM and DSC were used to characterize the dispersion, XRD was used to determine the crystalline polymorph, and dissolution studies were performed to determine the influence of the preparation method on the dissolution rate.
Results: The electrospun fibers contained 31 wt% ABZ and 26 wt% FAM for the 1:2 ABZ:PVP and 1:2 FAM:PVP formulations, respectively, and both APIs retained their crystalline polymorphs throughout processing. The crystals had an average size of about 10 μm and were well-dispersed throughout the fibers, resulting in a higher dissolution rate for electrospun tablets than for powder tablets.
Conclusions: Previously used to produce amorphous formulations, electrospinning has now been demonstrated to be a viable option for producing fibers containing crystalline API. Due to the dispersion of the crystals in the polymer, tablets made from the fiber mats may also exhibit improved dissolution properties over traditional powder compression.