Supercritical fluid-mediated methods to encapsulate drugs: recent advances and new opportunities

With the advent of the development of novel pharmaceutical products and therapies, there is a need for effective delivery of these products to patients. Dependent on whether they are small-molecular weight drugs or biologics, many new compounds may suffer from poor solubility, poor stability or require frequent administration and therefore require optimized delivery. For example, the utilization of polymorphism and the enhanced solubility in the amorphous state is being exploited to improve the dissolution of small-molecular weight poorly soluble drugs. This can be achieved by the formation of solid dispersions in water-soluble matrices. In addition, encapsulation in biodegradable polymeric materials is one potential route to reduce the frequency of administration through the formation of sustained-release formulations. This is desirable for biologics, for example, which generally require administration once or twice daily. Supercritical fluid processing can achieve both of these outcomes, and this review focuses on the use of supercritical CO2 to encapsulate active pharmaceutical ingredients to enhance solubility or achieve sustained release. Using supercritical CO2-mediated processes provides a clean and potentially solvent-free route to prepare novel drug products and is therefore an attractive alternative to conventional manufacturing technologies.