Azithromycin is an antibiotic proposed as a treatment for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) due to its immunomodulatory activity. The aim of this study is to develop dry powder formulations of azithromycin-loaded poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) nanocomposite microparticles for pulmonary delivery to improve the low bioavailability of azithromycin. Double emulsion method was used to produce nanoparticles, which were then spray dried to form nanocomposite microparticles. Encapsulation efficiency and drug loading were analysed, and formulations were characterised by particle size, zeta potential, morphology, crystallinity and in-vitro aerosol dispersion performance. The addition of chitosan changed the neutrally-charged azithromycin only formulation to positively-charged nanoparticles. However, the addition of chitosan also increased the particle size of the formulations. It was observed in the NGI® data that there was an improvement in dispersibility of the chitosan-related formulations. It was demonstrated in this study that all dry powder formulations were able to deliver azithromycin to the deep lung regions, which suggested the potential of using azithromycin via pulmonary drug delivery as an effective method to treat COVID-19.
Keywords: Antibiotic; COVID-19; azithromycin; chitosan; dry powder formulations; dry powder inhaler; nanocomposite microparticles; nanoparticles; poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA); pulmonary drug delivery.