Cortisone and cortisol break hydrogen-bonding rules to make a drug-prodrug solid solution

Multidrug products enable more effective therapies and simpler administration regimens, provided that a stable formulation is prepared, with the desired composition. In this view, solid solutions have the advantage of combining the stability of a single crystalline phase with the potential of stoichiometry variation of a mixture. Here a drug-prodrug solid solution of cortisone and cortisol (hydrocortisone) is described. Despite the structural differences of the two components, the new phase is obtained both from solution and by supercritical CO₂ assisted spray drying. In particular, to enter the solid solution, hydrocortisone must violate Etter's rules for hydrogen bonding. As a result, its dissolution rate is almost doubled.