Start
Feb 14, 2013 - 17:00
End
Feb 14, 2013 - 18:00
Venue
Room 118 (Creativity Hall) Ground Floor Chemical Engineering Department
Event Type
Speaker
Dr. Vivek Trivedi Lecturer in Formulation Science School of Science University of Greenwich
Title
Supercritical fluid processing: Chemical engineering and novel drug delivery systems
Abstract Supercritical fluids offer a considerable promise as a processing media for the formation of microparticles of drugs and pharmaceutical excipients. There are two main reasons for using this technique. Firstly the selective solvating power of supercritical fluids makes it possible to separate a particular component from a multi-component mixture. Secondly the favourable mass transfer properties and high solubility of solvent in supercritical fluid make the formation of the microparticles rapid and efficient. Supercritical fluids also offer various other advantages such as use of organic solvents high temperatures high sheer stresses can be avoided which can therefore aid in the effective safe and green processing of APIs and pharmaceutical excipients. Solubility behaviour of supercritical fluid can be altered or tuned by the fine adjustment of pressure and temperature. Supercritical fluids can also be utilised as a solute and can help in the depression of melting point or glass transition temperature of an excipient allowing microparticle production at far lower temperatures. The processing of excipients and APIs with supercritical CO2 and utilisation of this approach in the development of novel drug delivery systems (NDDS) is an attractive proposition because of above mentioned advantages. Our group is particularly interested in the "safe" formulation of NDDS for biologics for oral delivery which also entails incorporation of bio- molecules and proteins into inorganic host materials. Immobilisation of biologics on a solid surface improves their thermal and chemical stability. These biologics on an inorganic host can then be safely coated with lipids and/or other suitable excipient using supercritical fluid processing. This approach can provide sustained targeted and safe passage to a drug to the lower intestine where it can be released and absorbed.