Development of Methamphetamine Abuse-Deterrent Formulations Using Sucrose Acetate Isobutyrate

The objective of the present research was to investigate application of sucrose acetate isobutyrate (SAIB) in the development of a meth-deterrent formulation in combination with polyethylene oxide (Polyox^TM) and hydroxypropyl methylcellulose. The formulations were prepared by granulating pseudoephedrine hydrochloride, hydroxypropyl methylcellulose, and Polyox^TM with an ethanolic solution of SAIB and compressed into tablets followed by heat curing. The tablets were characterized for surface morphology, crystallinity, drug distribution, hardness, particle size, extraction, and dissolution. Hardness increased insignificantly, surface morphology indicated cracking and crevices, and diffractograms showed an increase and a decrease in drug and PolyoxTM crystallinity, respectively, after heat curing. Pseudoephedrine hydrochloride, Polyox^TM, and SAIB distribution was uniform as indicated by near infrared image. The drug extraction varied from 69.5% to 77.8%, 90.3% to 106.5%, 51.3% to 81.2%, and 48.9% to 72.6% in water, ethanol, 0.1 N HCl, and 0.1 N NaOH, respectively. The dissolution was more than 85% in 9 h from all the formulations. Thus, the addition of SAIB to the formulation decreased the drug extraction in various solvents which has the potential to decrease abuse of pseudoephedrine formulation for methamphetamine synthesis.