Vacuum Compression Molding as a Screening Tool to Investigate Carrier Suitability for Hot-Melt Extrusion Formulations

Hot-melt extrusion (HME) is the most preferred and effective method for manufacturing amorphous solid dispersions at production scale, but it consumes large amounts of samples when used for formulation development. Herein, we show a novel approach to screen the polymers by overcoming the disadvantage of conventional HME screening by using a minimum quantity of active pharmaceutical ingredient (API). Vacuum Compression Molding (VCM) is a fusion-based method to form solid specimens starting from powders. This study aimed to investigate the processability of VCM for the creation of amorphous formulations and to compare its results with HME-processed formulations. Mixtures of indomethacin (IND) with drug carriers (Parteck^® MXP, Soluplus^®, Kollidon^® VA 64, Eudragit^® EPO) were processed using VCM and extrusion technology. Thermal characterization was performed using differential scanning calorimetry, and the solid-state was analyzed via X-ray powder diffraction. Dissolution studies in the simulated gastric fluid were performed to evaluate the drug release. Both technologies showed similar results proving the effectiveness of VCM as a screening tool for HME-based formulations.