Dissolution and precipitation behavior of ternary solid dispersions of ezetimibe in biorelevant media

The effects of different formulations and processes on inducing and maintaining the supersaturation of ternary solid dispersions of ezetimibe (EZ) in two biorelevant media fasted-state simulated intestinal fluid (FaSSIF) and fasted-state simulated gastric fluid (FaSSGF) at different temperatures (25 °C and 37 °C) were investigated in this work. Ternary solid dispersions of EZ were prepared by adding polymer PVP-K30 and surfactant poloxamer 188 using melt-quenching and spray-drying methods. The resulting solid dispersions were characterized using scanning electron microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), modulated DSC, powder X-ray diffraction and Fourier transformation infrared spectroscopy. The dissolution of all the ternary solid dispersions was tested in vitro under non-sink conditions. All the prepared solid dispersions were amorphous in nature. In FaSSIF at 25 °C, the melt-quenched (MQ) solid dispersions of EZ were more soluble than the spray-dried (SD) solid dispersions and supersaturation was maintained. However, at 37 °C, rapid and variable precipitation behavior was observed for all the MQ and SD formulations. In FaSSGF, the melting method resulted in better solubility than the spray-drying method at both temperatures. Ternary solid dispersions show potential for improving solubility and supersaturation. However, powder dissolution experiments of these solid dispersions of EZ at 25 °C may not predict the supersaturation behavior at physiologically relevant temperatures.