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PII: S0378-5173(17)30161-8
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.1016/j.ijpharm.2017.02.062
Reference: IJP 16466
Please cite this article as: Jensen, Linda G., Skautrup, Frederik B., Mullertz,
Anette,
Abrahamsson, Bertil, Rades, Thomas, Priemel, Petra A., Amorphous is not always
betterA dissolution study on solid state forms of carbamazepine.International Journal
of Pharmaceutics http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpharm.2017.02.062
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Amorphous is not always better a dissolution study on solid state forms of carbamazepine
Linda G Jensen1, Frederik B Skautrup1, Anette Mllertz1,2, Bertil Abrahamsson3, Thomas Rades1*,
Petra A Priemel1
1
University of Copenhagen, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences Denmark,
2
Bioneer:Farma, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
3
AstraZeneca R&D Mlndal, Pepparedsleden 1, SE-431 83 Mlndal, Sweden
*
Corresponding author:
Thomas Rades
Department of Pharmacy
Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences
University of Copenhagen
Universitetsparken 2
2100 Kbenhavn
DENMARK
Telephone +4535336032
e-mail: thomas.rades@sund.ku.dk
Graphical abstract
1
Abstract
Poor aqueous solubility is a major concern for many new drugs. One possibility to overcome this
issue is to formulate the drug as a high energy form, i.e. a metastable polymorph, an amorphous
neat drug or a glass solution with polymers. In this study the dissolution properties of different solid
state forms of carbamazepine, crystalline or amorphous drug, with or without either
polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) or hydroxypropylmethylcellulose (HPMC) and glass solutions of the
drug with both polymers (2:1, 4:1 and 10:1 (w/w) drug-to-polymer ratio) were tested with respect to
their dissolution behaviour in a biorelevant gastric medium (for 30 min) and subsequently in
intestinal conditions (for 2 hours). Carbamazepine form III in the absence of polymer dissolved to a
drug concentration of 540 g/ml, but the concentration decreased after around 70 min due to
precipitation of the dihydrate form, and reached 436 g/ml after 2.5 hours dissolution testing. The
presence of PVP led to a similar dissolution profile with a slightly earlier onset of decrease in drug
2
concentration, while in the presence of HPMC no decline in dissolved drug concentration was
observed. Surprisingly, amorphous carbamazepine did not result in any supersaturation and the drug
concentration was lower than that measured for crystalline carbamazepine. The addition of
polymers further decreased the concentration of dissolved drug (290-310 g/ml, depending on
polymer type and concentration). Amorphous drug converted quickly into the dihydrate form and
thus no supersaturation was achieved. Glass solutions of carbamazepine with PVP reached drug
concentrations between 348 and 408 g/ml after 2.5 hours, i.e. lower than for the crystalline drug,
whilst glass solutions with HPMC reached concentrations similar to the crystalline drug.
3
1. Introduction
The poor aqueous solubility of many new and existing drugs presents a major formulation challenge
in order to reach suitable drug concentrations at the side of action (Stegemann et al., 2007).
Specifically in the case of oral drug delivery, which is by far the preferred route of drug
administration, dissolution of the drug in the gastrointestinal tract is a prerequisite for drug
absorption. A highly investigated approach to increase the dissolution rate of poorly soluble drugs is
to convert the stable crystalline form of the drug into a high energy form, such as a high energy
(metastable) polymorphic form or an amorphous form (Blagden et al., 2007; Grohganz et al., 2013).
While these approaches increase the apparent solubility and thereby potentially also the
bioavailability of the drug, high energy forms are not thermodynamically stable. Thus they have the
potential to re-crystallise during storage or dissolution to a more stable crystalline polymorph with
an accompanying loss of the dissolution rate and solubility advantage (Priemel et al., 2012;
Savolainen et al., 2009; Tian et al., 2007). One way to overcome this problem is to prepare a glass
solution, in which the drug is molecularly mixed with a polymer (Grohganz et al., 2014). The
dissolution of high energy forms, such as metastable polymorphs, amorphous drugs and glass
solutions, is generally expected to lead to supersaturation of the drug and potentially to subsequent
precipitation (Madsen et al., 2016; Ozaki et al., 2013; Sun and Lee, 2013).
Upon oral administration, most drugs are absorbed in the small intestine. It is therefore important,
especially for amorphous drugs, prone to supersaturation, to understand their behaviour in media
simulating the composition of the gastric and intestinal fluids. The aim of the present study was to
investigate the dissolution properties of different solid state forms of carbamazepine, i.e. of the pure
crystalline form (polymorphic form III, the stable polymorphic form of the drug at room
temperature, but not the stable form in aqueous media at 37 C) or neat amorphous drug (prepared
4
by quench cooling of polymorphic form III), in the presence or absence of either
precipitation inhibitors) and glass solutions of the drug with both polymers (at a 2:1, 4:1 and 10:1
2.1. Materials
Phosphatidyl choline was obtained from Lipoid GmbH (Ludwigshafen, Germany). Hydrochloric
acid 37%, taurocholic acid sodium salt hydrate (>95%), sodium phosphate dibasic, sodium
phosphate monobasic monohydrate, pepsine from porcine gastric mucosa, crude bovine bile and
N,N-dimethylacetamide (DMA) were purchased from Sigma Aldrich (St. Louis, USA). CBZ, PVP
90F and HPMC 615 were purchased from Fagron (Rotterdam, The Netherlands), from BASF
(Ludwigshafen, Germany) and from Cellu ApS (Herlev, Denmark), respectively. Sodium chloride
was purchased from Merck (Whitehouse Station, USA). Methanol (99.9 %) was purchased from
VWR Chemical (Rdovre, Denmark). All chemicals used were of analytical reagent grade or
higher.
Crystalline CBZ was used as received; the polymorphic form was form III. For amorphous CBZ a
total of 600 50 mg was placed on a tin foil plate. The sample was then melted on a pre-heated
hotplate set to 207 C for 3 min, removed from the hotplate and quench cooled with liquid nitrogen.
Samples were immediately placed over silica and equilibrated at room temperature. Amorphous
CBZ was ground and sieved to a particle size between 180-300 m. For formation of glass
5
solutions, CBZ was pre-mixed with either PVP or HPMC in a 2:1, 4:1 and 10:1 (w/w) ratio and
Dissolution testing was performed in the DISS Profiler with cross section magnets and fiber
optic probes with 2 mm mirror, all from PionInc (Woburn, USA). The fiber optic probes were used
for concentration measurements in the UV range from 305-350 nm. The parameters during the
dissolution studies were set to 180 rpm and 37 C. A standard curve was prepared using an area-
under-the-curve of the second derivative spectral method (Berger et al., 2007; Bijlani et al., 2007;
Bynum et al., 2001; Fagerberg et al., 2010; Madelung et al., 2014) to determine CBZ
concentrations. The samples were tested as powders. Amorphous particles had a size between 180-
300 m and the crystalline CBZ particle size was measured with a Mastersizer (d0.1 3.5 m, d0.5
The dissolution behaviour of 20 mg CBZ, either crystalline, amorphous or as glass solution, was
tested in 10 ml Fasted State Simulated Gastric Fluid (FaSSGF, see Table 1) (Vertzoni et al., 2005)
for 30 min. After the dissolution testing the remaining solids were vacuum filtered and then directly
measured afterwards, to avoid artefact creation. The solid state of the filtrates was analysed using
X-ray powder diffractometry (XRPD), see section 2.5. In a second set of dissolution tests, 10 ml of
a conversion buffer (see Table 1) were added after 30 min to the FaSSGF media. The conversion
buffer changed the FaSSGF into a biorelevant intestinal media. Dissolution testing was continued
for another 2 hours and samples were then treated in the same way as described above to gain
6
2.5. XRPD
XRPD analysis was performed using a XPert PRO X-ray diffractometer from PANalytical
(Almelo, The Netherlands). Samples were measured from 5-35 2 at 45 kV and 40 mA with a
scanning speed of 0.6565 2/min and a step size of 0.01313 2. Data were collected using XPert
CBZ form III was dissolved in DMA at a concentration of 100 mg/ml. The precipitation behaviour
of CBZ was tested by adding 200 L of the CBZ solution to 10 ml biorelevant intestinal media
either containing pre-dissolved HPMC or PVP or without polymer. The amount of polymer that was
added to the medium was chosen such that 2:1, 4:1 and 10:1 (w/w) of drug-to-polymer ratios were
reached, respectively. Precipitation was measured with the DISS Profiler described in section
2.3 using a 10 mm mirror, a stirring rate of 100 rpm and a temperature of 37 C. The light
obscuration (obs) was measured at a wavelength of 500 nm every second and the time to
precipitation was determined as the time where an increase in obs was seen (using a linear
regression of the measuring points showing increasing obs to calculate the intercept with the time
3.1. Dissolution behaviour of crystalline CBZ in FaSSGF and biorelevant intestinal media in
7
When crystalline CBZ form III was added to biorelevant gastric media, within 10 min a plateau was
reached and maintained until the end of the gastric dissolution step (30 min) with a concentration of
475 12 g/ml. Since drug dissolution was not complete in the medium, XRPD analysis of the
remaining solid could be performed and revealed that CBZ remained in its original polymorphic
form, form III (see Supplementary Material). In the second set of experiments, the conversion
buffer was added to the FaSSGF after 30 min dissolution testing in biorelevant gastric medium
converting the medium into a biorelevant intestinal medium. Through this step the volume in the
measuring vessel doubled and hence concentration of dissolved CBZ halved at 30 min in the
In the absence of polymer, CBZ reached a concentration of 540 g/ml after 20 min of dissolution in
the intestinal medium (50 min total dissolution time). However, after 67min (total dissolution time)
the drug concentration started to decline and at the end of the experiment, after 2h in intestinal
biorelevant medium, a concentration of 436 17 g/ml was measured. XRPD measurements of the
solid phase at the end of the experiment revealed that CBZ form III changed to the crystalline CBZ
dihydrate form during exposure to the intestinal dissolution medium. The dihydrate form has a
lower aqueous solubility than CBZ form III and is the most stable polymorph in aqueous conditions
(Tian et al., 2006b). Hence, the dissolution of the crystalline CBZ form III leads to supersaturation
with regards to the dihydrate. The dihydrate form nucleates and precipitates leading to a decrease in
the measured concentration. This solution mediated transformation of CBZ form III to the dihydrate
3.2. Dissolution behaviour of crystalline CBZ in FaSSGF and biorelevant intestinal media in
8
Dissolution experiments in biorelevant gastric media were next performed in the presence of PVP
or HPMC, pre-dissolved in the gastric medium. The amount of polymer that was added to the
medium was chosen such that 2:1, 4:1 and 10:1 (w/w) of drug-to-polymer ratios were reached,
respectively. No polymer was added to the conversion buffer in order to keep the ratio of drug-to-
polymer constant.
At drug-to-polymer ratios of 2:1, 4:1 and 10:1 (w/w) the concentration of dissolved drug reached at
the end of the gastric step was 485 13, 481 10 and 447 11 g/ml for PVP and 480 10, 458
4 and 433 17 g/ml for HPMC, respectively. The dissolution kinetics were similar to those
observed for pure CBZ (see Figure 2a and d). As was the case in the absence of polymers, XRPD
confirmed that undissolved CBZ remained to be present as polymorphic form III (see
Supplementary Material).
When the conversion buffer was added to the FaSSGF containing polymers after 30 min of
dissolution testing, a decrease in CBZ concentration at around 50 min for all CBZ-PVP ratios was
observed. At the end of the intestinal dissolution step, CBZ-PVP samples reached concentrations of
around 400 g/ml and the solid phase was analysed by XRPD. Only reflections of the dihydrate
form of CBZ were present in the diffractograms (see Supplementary Material). In contrast, when
HPMC was present in the dissolution medium, no decline in the concentration of dissolved drug
was observed and the concentration remained around 540 g/ml until the end of the intestinal
dissolution step (Figure 2a). XRPD measurements after the dissolution test confirmed that CBZ
form III did not convert to the dihydrate form at all tested concentrations of HPMC.
Previous studies have found contradicting results with regards to the inhibition of the conversion of
CBZ form III to the dihydrate by PVP. Single CBZ crystals were mounted on microscope stubs and
immersed either in water or in a 1% (w/v) aqueous PVP solution (Tian et al., 2006). At pre-
9
determined time points samples were imaged by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). In the
absence of polymer, dihydrate needles grew on the crystal surface. However, when PVP or
hydroxypropyl cellulose were present, the authors observed the dissolution of the drug without any
dihydrate formation. Sodium carboxymethylcellulose and polyethylene glycol 6000 delayed the
hydrate formation, but could not prevent it. HPMC was not among the investigated polymers in that
study. In another study the transformation of CBZ form III in a slurry was investigated using
Raman spectroscopy (Gift et al., 2008). In this paper the authors investigated the effect of added
polymers on nucleation and precipitation using a light scattering probe and on crystal growth with
microscopic measurements. A supersaturated solution of CBZ was created via cooling a saturated
solution from 60 to 25 C. The addition of PVP showed no inhibitory effect on the nucleation
process to the dihydrate. The lack of an inhibitory effect of PVP on the nucleation of CBZ dihydrate
was confirmed in the current study, both in dissolution (see above) and precipitation studies (see
below). For the latter, CBZ was dissolved in DMA and added to the intestinal medium in the
absence and presence of pre-dissolved polymers. The concentration of CBZ was chosen such that it
was supersaturated in the intestinal medium and to a degree that nucleation and precipitation
In the presence of PVP, unexpectedly the time to precipitation of CBZ was even getting slightly
shorter than in the absence of polymer with decreasing drug-to-polymer ratio (Figure 3). This
finding is supported by the slightly earlier decrease in dissolved drug concentration in the intestinal
In contrast, in the presence of pre-dissolved HPMC the time to precipitation of CBZ was strongly
10
The influence of the presence of excipients (dissolved in the media) on the polymorphic form and
dissolution behaviour of CBZ during intrinsic dissolution testing was investigated (Tian et al.,
2007). The excipients HPMC and PEG were found to inhibit (HPMC) or slow down (PEG) the
conversion to the dihydrate, whereas this conversion happened very fast in water. CBZ form III had
a higher dissolution rate when the dissolution study was performed in water than when it was
performed in PEG or HPMC solution. The fast dissolution of CBZ in the absence of polymers (i.e.
when conversion to the dihydrate takes place quickly) was unexpected as the dihydrate has a lower
aqueous solubility than CBZ form III. The measured dissolution rates could be explained by
visualizing the drug compacts during and after dissolution using SEM and investigating the solid
state form after dissolution testing with XRPD. Compacts containing only CBZ form III converted
to the dihydrate form. After 20 min of intrinsic dissolution testing needle formation could be
visualised on the compact surfaces. The conversion to the dihydrate form was slowed down by the
PEG solution and needles were observed only after 100 min. In the presence of HPMC no needles
were observed on the compact surface at all. Dissolution testing was performed in compacted discs
which are used in intrinsic dissolution testing to ensure a constant surface area. The conversion of
CBZ form III to the dihydrate in needle form substantially increased the surface area of the compact
and hence increased the dissolution rate. In the current study powder dissolution was performed in a
set-up where the surface area does not play such a crucial role as in intrinsic dissolution testing.
Therefore the inhibition of the dihydrate formation of CBZ by HPMC had a positive effect on the
3.3. Dissolution behaviour of quench cooled CBZ in the absence of polymers in FaSSGF and
11
The main purpose of using an amorphous form of a drug, either as a neat amorphous drug or with a
polymer as a glass solution, is to increase the apparent solubility and the dissolution rate (Grohganz
et al., 2014). This creates supersaturation with regards to the most stable crystalline form. However,
Precipitation from supersaturated solutions has been previously observed for example for
Surprisingly, in the current study the amorphous form of CBZ (confirmed by XRPD measurements,
data not shown) reached lower concentrations compared to CBZ form III throughout dissolution in
FaSSGF (see green and pink dissolution curves in Figure 2). XRPD measurements on the remaining
solid confirmed that the amorphous drug had converted to the dihydrate form of CBZ (see
Supplementary Material). The dissolution data suggests that this conversion had happened in the
solid state of the drug, before dissolution, as supersaturation could not be reached. The
concentration of the dissolved drug in FaSSGF reached 311 9 g/ml with quench cooled
amorphous CBZ as the starting solid material. When the FaSSGF medium was converted to the
intestinal medium the drug concentration dropped due to the increase in volume as seen before for
crystalline CBZ. The drug re-dissolved after the addition of the conversion buffer and reached a
plateau, at the end of the intestinal dissolution step at a drug concentration of 337 17 g/ml. Thus,
Savolainen et al. studied the dissolution behaviour of quench cooled CBZ and CBZ dihydrate in a
flow through cell equipped with a Raman probe (Savolainen et al., 2009). The Raman data revealed
that amorphous CBZ converted to CBZ form I, which has a higher solubility than form III, and then
to the dihydrate. However, in the dissolution testing the amorphous samples reached a lower
concentration than the CBZ dihydrate samples. The authors explained this observation by
12
differences in the wetting characteristics and specific surface areas of the samples. The crystalline
samples were compressed from powder whereas the amorphous samples were quench cooled
directly into a mold resulting in one solid block (Savolainen et al., 2009). Whilst the slower
dissolution rate of amorphous samples compared to the crystalline form of the drug is in good
accordance to our findings, the explanation has to be a different one in the current study. The slower
dissolution rate of the quench cooled sample here is more likely due to the fast and direct
3.3. Dissolution behaviour of quench cooled CBZ in the presence of pre-dissolved polymers in
When the dissolution experiment in FaSSGF was performed in the presence of pre-dissolved PVP
or HPMC at drug-to-polymer ratios of 2:1, 4:1 and 10:1 (w/w) respectively, the concentrations of
dissolved CBZ reached at the end of the gastric step were 292 15, 287 11 and 284 18 g/ml
for PVP and 274 20, 270 17 and 269 13 g/ml for HPMC, respectively (black, red and blue
curves in Figure 2b and e). After the addition of the conversion buffer, amorphous CBZ in the
presence of both polymers re-dissolved slower than amorphous CBZ without polymers. Samples
reached 310 16, 296 17 and 290 14 g/ml in the presence of HPMC and 298 14, 293 12
and 296 5 g/ml in the presence of PVP (black, red and blue curves in Figure 2b and e).
Polymers are often used to prevent or slow down crystallisation of supersaturated drug. As shown
in Figure 3 this was indeed the case for HPMC, but not for PVP. However, in the dissolution study
presence of pre-dissolved polymer in case of both polymers led to a lower dissolved drug
concentration than in the absence of polymer. This may be explained by the fact that in the
precipitation study (Figure 3) the drug was added in a dissolved form whereas in the dissolution
study (Figure 2) the drug was initially present in the solid form not reaching supersaturation.
13
Amorphous CBZ particles may be better wetted in the presence of polymer leading to a faster
The drug concentration measured for samples in the presence of both polymers was still slightly
increasing at the end of the dissolution testing (150 min). If the dissolution testing would have been
carried on the concentration measured for quench cooled CBZ without polymers may have been
reached.
3.4. Dissolution behaviour of quench cooled CBZ glass solutions in FaSSGF and biorelevant
intestinal media
Quench cooled CBZ had a lower dissolution rate than crystalline CBZ form III even in the presence
of pre-dissolved polymers. Therefore glass solutions in the same drug-to-polymer ratios 2:1, 4:1 and
10:1 (w/w) were tested to investigate if an intimate contact between the drug and the polymer
molecules would prevent dihydrate formation and thus lead to supersaturation. The amorphous
nature of the glass solutions has been confirmed by XRPD measurements (data not shown).
Glass solutions of CBZ and either polymer reached a higher concentration of dissolved drug than
quench cooled CBZ but a lower concentration than CBZ form III in the gastric step of the
dissolution testing. After addition of the conversion buffer glass solutions of CBZ and PVP reached
a concentration plateau of dissolved CBZ after 20 min of dissolution in the intestinal medium (50
min total dissolution time). The concentration of this plateau was 408 9, 374 9 and 348 13
g/ml for the 2:1, 4:1 and 10:1 (w/w) drug-to-polymer ratios and dependent on the CBZ-PVP ratio.
The glass solution with the highest PVP content reached the highest drug concentration (see blue,
In the presence of HPMC the 2:1 and the 4:1 drug-to-polymer ratio had the same dissolution
kinetics (see blue and red curve in Figure 2c). At the 10:1 drug-to-polymer ratio the drug dissolved
14
slower, (see black curve in Figure 2c). At the end of the gastric step a CBZ concentration of 360
6, 373 7 and 350 4 g/ml for the 2:1, 4:1 and 10:1 (w/w) drug-to-polymer ratios was reached.
Directly after the conversion to the intestinal medium CBZ re-dissolved in the same manner as in
the gastric step. At approximately 50 min, dissolution slowed down but continued steadily until the
end of the experiment reaching almost the concentration of dissolved drug from crystalline CBZ.
Diffractograms contained only dihydrate reflections both after gastric and intestinal dissolution
Whilst the glass solutions of the respective drug-to-polymer ratios performed better than amorphous
drug with pre-dissolved polymer (see Figure 2b and e) and also better than quench cooled
amorphous CBZ alone (see green curve in Figure 2c and f), none of the amorphous forms reached
supersaturation and the area under the dissolution curve was the highest for crystalline CBZ form
III.
4. Conclusions
It is generally expected that amorphous forms of a drug, either neat amorphous drug or a glass
solution of the drug and a polymer, result in a higher apparent solubility, a faster dissolution of the
drug and the creation of supersaturation. The current study, however, has shown that this is not
always the case. Amorphous, quench cooled CBZ with and without pre-dissolved polymers (PVP or
HPMC) and glass solutions of CBZ with PVP or HPMC reached a lower drug concentration in
dissolution testing than crystalline CBZ form III. While amorphous neat CBZ with and without pre-
dissolved polymers, glass solutions of CBZ and CBZ form III all converted to the dihydrate form of
CBZ, this happened faster for the amorphous forms than for the crystalline form. In the presence of
pre-dissolved HPMC, but not of pre-dissolved PVP, the conversion from CBZ form III to the
dihydrate form was prevented, supersaturation with regards to the dihydrate form was maintained
15
and hence the highest concentration during dissolution testing in this study was measured. This
study highlights that formulation approaches to enhance the solubility of a drug have to be chosen
Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge funding from Astra Zeneca and the University of Copenhagen for the
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Figure1. Dissolution of CBZ form III in FaSSGF (0-30 min) and biorelevant intestinal (30-150
min) media.
Figure 2. Dissolution of (a) crystalline CBZ III in the presence of HPMC (pre-dissolved in
medium) at a ratio of 10:1, 4:1 and 2:1 (w/w), (b) quench cooled, amorphous CBZ in the
presence of HPMC (pre-dissolved in medium) at a ratio of 10:1, 4:1 and 2:1 (w/w), (c) CBZ
HPMC glass solutions at a ratio of 10:1, 4:1 and 2:1 (w/w), (d) crystalline CBZ III in the
presence of PVP (pre-dissolved in medium) at a ratio of 10:1, 4:1 and 2:1 (w/w), (e) quench
cooled CBZ in the presence of PVP (pre-dissolved in medium) at a ratio of 10:1, 4:1 and 2:1
(w/w) and (f) CBZ PVP glass solutions in a ratio of 10:1, 4:1 and 2:1(w/w).
18
Figure 3. Precipitation of CBZ in the presence of HPMC (black) and PVP (red) from DMA
solution in intestinal media
19
Table 1 Composition of FaSSGF and the bile salt buffer
20