Instant coffee and powdered milk are produced by spray drying. Fraunhofer researchers have adapted this technique to the tricky question of incorporating insoluble substances in core-shell particles. The new method helps reduce the concentration of active ingredients in therapeutic medications.
Encapsulation is used in cosmetics and pharmaceuticals to protect active ingredients against external influences such as aggressive gastric acid. Another use of encapsulation is to control the release of active ingredients inside the body: depending on the permeability of the shell material, the medication is delivered gradually rather than all at once. Because such systems release multiple, smaller doses over an extended period of time, the drug therapy is better tolerated and easier to administer. In some cases, it means taking just one pill a day instead of three.
Insoluble substances are a problem
The first step of the encapsulation process involves dissolving the active ingredient in a liquid medium and mixing it with the shell material. Then the solution is piped to an orifice in the center of a nozzle surrounded by an annular channel through which compressed air is injected at high speed. The pressure disperses the solution into an aerosol of fine droplets, which is then sprayed into a drying cylinder. Here, the liquid evaporates, leaving behind a fine powder of core-shell particles. The problem is that it is difficult to mix insoluble substances with other materials. This limits the choice of shell materials that can be used to produce the particles.
Three-way nozzle permits endless combinations of materials
“For this reason, we use a three-way nozzle to implement spraying. Its advantage is that it permits two substances to be fed separately to the nozzle. The shear forces mix the substances together at the orifice of the nozzle, creating an aerosol containing both materials,” explains Michael Walz, who developed and optimized the new technique with his colleague Dr. Achim Weber at the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB in Stuttgart.
This system permits endless combinations of materials, enabling the controlled release of active ingredients to be adapted to different applications. “We can modify the particle size and encapsulation efficiency by selecting the appropriate substances and by varying the concentration of the solution, the liquid volume flow, the drying temperature, and the pressure applied to the nozzle. This gives us the capability to respond to almost any customer requirement and develop solutions tailored to their needs,” says Weber.
The new process for the encapsulation of active ingredients could be of interest to fertilizer manufacturers and food processing companies as well as the cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries.
Learn more: Spray drying: Perfect dosing thanks to drug capsules
The Latest on: Drug delivery
[google_news title=”” keyword=”drug delivery” num_posts=”10″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]- Scottish inhaled drug delivery firm Nebu-Flow raises £4.7mon April 29, 2024 at 8:54 pm
Flow, a University of Glasgow spinout, has secured £4.7 million of investment to accelerate what it describes as the “next generation” of inhaled drugs for patients with respiratory disorders. Noting ...
- Scottish pioneer aiming to revolutionise inhaled drug delivery takes major stepon April 29, 2024 at 5:00 pm
READ MORE: Ian McConnell: Toxic Tory ideology and all the wrong priorities Elijah Nazarzadeh, chief executive and co-founder of Nebu-Flow, said: “Essentially, our technology provides new opportunities ...
- Youngwood man pleads guilty to drug sales in 2 fatal overdoseson April 29, 2024 at 3:00 pm
A Youngwood man pleaded guilty Monday to selling drugs to two people who died of overdoses in 2020. Frank Bogley, 71, was charged following the Feb. 1, 2020, death of 39-year-old Tina Johnson in West ...
- Wilkes-Barre man sentenced on firearm, drug trafficking convictionson April 29, 2024 at 10:04 am
A man convicted by a Luzerne County jury on a firearm offense and pled guilty to delivering crack cocaine was sentenced in Luzerne County Court to up to two decades in state prison.
- Glasgow firm looking to ‘revolutionise’ respiratory drug delivery gets £4.7 million injectionon April 29, 2024 at 6:33 am
We are engaged with a number of partners in the UK and North America who are currently trialling the product.” ...
- Polk County deputies seize 14 kilos of fentanyl, arrest 4 in undercover drug buston April 26, 2024 at 10:29 am
The fentanyl seized by Polk investigators since January '23 is enough to kill every resident of Florida, Sheriff Grady Judd said.
- Scientists learn from caterpillars how to create self-assembling capsules for drug deliveryon April 26, 2024 at 8:00 am
Self-assembling molecules that spontaneously organize themselves to form complex structures are common in nature. For example, the tough outer layer of insects, called the cuticle, is rich in proteins ...
- Drug Delivery Technologies market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 5.5% by 2034: Visiongainon April 26, 2024 at 6:15 am
Visiongain has published a new report entitled Drug Delivery Technologies Market Report 2024-2034: Forecasts by Route of Administration (Implantable Drug Delivery, Injectable Drug Delivery Nasal Drug ...
- A closed-loop drug-delivery system could improve chemotherapyon April 24, 2024 at 2:02 pm
When cancer patients undergo chemotherapy, the dose of most drugs is calculated based on the patient's body surface area. This is estimated by plugging the patient's height and weight into an equation ...
- Technion breakthrough for better drug delivery and tissue implantationon April 23, 2024 at 2:11 pm
Researchers develop ultrasound for non-invasive method for bio-printing live cells and tissues deep within the body.
via Google News and Bing News