Budesonide nanoparticle agglomerates as dry powder aerosols with rapid dissolution

Nanoparticle technology represents an attractive approach for formulating poorly water-soluble pulmonary medicines. Unfortunately, nanoparticle suspensions used in nebulizers or metered dose inhalers often suffer from physical instability in the form of uncontrolled agglomeration or Ostwald ripening. In addition, processing such suspensions into dry powders can yield broad particle size distributions. To address these encumbrances, a controlled nanoparticle flocculation process has been developed. Nanosuspensions of the poorly water-soluble drug budesonide were prepared by dissolving the drug in organic solvent containing surfactants followed by rapid solvent extraction in water. Different surfactants were employed to control the size and surface charge of the precipitated nanoparticles. Nanosuspensions were flocculated using leucine and lyophilized. Selected budesonide nanoparticle suspensions exhibited an average particle size ranging from approximately 160 to 230 nm, high yield and high drug content. Flocculated nanosuspensions produced micron-sized agglomerates. Freeze-drying the nanoparticle agglomerates yielded dry powders with desirable aerodynamic properties for inhalation therapy. In addition, the dissolution rates of dried nanoparticle agglomerate formulations were significantly faster than that of stock budesonide. The results of this study suggest that nanoparticle agglomerates possess the microstructure desired for lung deposition and the nanostructure to facilitate rapid dissolution of poorly water-soluble drugs.