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Solubility has been widely regarded as a fundamental property of small molecule drugs and drug candidates, as it has a profound impact on the crystallization process. Solubility prediction, as an alternative to experiments which can reduce waste and improve crystallization process efficiency, has attracted increasing attention. However, there are still many urgent challenges thus far. Herein we used seven descriptors based on understanding dissolution behavior to establish two solubility prediction models by machine learning algorithms. The solubility data of 120 active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) in ethanol were considered in the prediction models, which were constructed by random decision forests and artificial neural network with optimized data structure and model accuracy. Furthermore, a comparison with traditional prediction methods including the modified solubility equation and the quantitative structure-property relationships model was carried out. The highest accuracy shown by the testing set proves that the ML models have the best solubility prediction ability. Multiple linear regression and stepwise regression were used to further investigate the critical factor in determining solubility value. The results revealed that the API properties and the solute-solvent interaction both provide a nonnegligible contribution to the solubility value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drugs are referred to as drug nanocrystals when they exist as nanoscale crystal structures. This kind of nanocarrier has been widely utilized to increase the solubility and absorption for poorly aqueous soluble drugs after oral administration, or prolong the drug circulation when intravenous administration. The systemic cytotoxicity caused by antitumor drugs usually come from the nonspecific drug distribution. To solve the disadvantage of poor targetability, drug nanocrystals for tumor targeted delivery have been developed in recent years. In this review, the targeting mechanisms of various surface modified drug nanocrystals are introduced with the focus on passive targeting, active targeting and stimuli-responsive targeting in details. Function and application of common surface modified materials are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the advancement of tumor therapy, in addition to the search for new antitumor compounds, the development of nano-drug delivery systems has opened up new pathways for tumor treatment by addressing some of the limitations of traditional drugs. Liposomes have received much attention for their high biocompatibility, low toxicity, high inclusivity, and improved drug bioavailability. They are one of the most studied nanocarriers, changing the size and surface characteristics of liposomes to better fit the tumor environment by taking advantage of the unique pathophysiology of tumors. They can also be designed as tumor targeting drug delivery vehicles for the precise delivery of active drugs into tumor cells. This paper reviews the current development of liposome formulations, summarizes the characterization methods of liposomes, and proposes strategies to improve the effectiveness of tumor treatment. Finally, it provides an outlook on the challenges and future directions of the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The solubilities of acetylpyrazine in seven pure solvents and one binary solvent mixture were determined by a dynamic analytic method at temperatures ranging from 268.15 to 308.15 K under atmospheric pressure. For pure solvents, the solubility of acetylpyrazine increases with increasing temperature and solvent polarity. For the binary solvent mixture of ethyl acetate and isopropanol, the solubility increases with increasing temperature and mole fraction of ethyl acetate. The solubility data were correlated with some thermodynamic models, including the modified Apelblat model, λh model, CNIBS/R-K model, and NRTL model. In addition, the relationship between solubility and solvent polarity was investigated by using the Arrhenius equation. All the models or equations gave satisfactory correlation results. The results showed that the solubility of acetylpyrazine generally rises with the increase of solvent polarity at the same temperature. Moreover, the dissolution thermodynamic properties of acetylpyrazine in different solvents were calculated and are discussed based on the NRTL model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An anticancer drug delivery system consisting of DNA nanoparticles synthesized by rolling circle amplification (RCA) was developed for prostate cancer membrane antigen (PSMA) targeted cancer therapy. The template of RCA was a DNA oligodeoxynucleotide coded with PSMA-targeted aptamer, drug-loading domain, primer binding site and pH-sensitive spacer. Anticancer drug doxorubicin, as the model drug, was loaded into the drug-loading domain (multiple GC-pair sequences) of the DNA nanoparticles by intercalation. Due to the integrated pH-sensitive spacers in the nanoparticles, in an acidic environment, the cumulative release of doxorubicin was far more than the cumulative release of the drug in the normal physiological environment. In cell uptake experiments, treated with doxorubicin loaded DNA nanoparticles, PSMA-positive C4-2 cells could take up more doxorubicin than PSMA-null PC-3 cells. The prepared DNA nanoparticles showed the potential as drug delivery system for PSMA targeting prostate cancer therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clindamycin phosphate (CP), an antibacterial agent, has been reported to form several solid-state forms. The crystal structures of two CP solvates, a dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) solvate and a methanol/water solvate (solvate V), have been determined by single crystal X-ray diffraction. The properties and transformations of these forms were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction, Single-crystal X-ray diffraction, differential scanning calorimetry, thermo gravimetric analysis, hot-stage microscopy, and dynamic vapor sorption. Very different hydrogen bonding networks exist among the host-host and host-solvent molecules in the two crystal structures, resulting in different moisture stabilities. The thermal stabilities of the two solvates upon heating and desolvation were also studied. When the temperature was above the boiling point of methanol, solvate V converted to a polymorphic phase after a one step desolvation process, whereas the desolvation temperature of the DMSO solvate was below the boiling point of DMSO. At the relative humidity above 43%, the DMSO solvate transformed to a hydrate at 25 °C. In contrast, solvate V did not transform at any of the humidities studied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Powders of donepezil hydrochloride monohydrate (Form I) underwent isomorphic dehydration, losing 3% w/w water between 90% and 10% relative humidity (RH) without changing its powder X-ray pattern. Below 10% RH, additional dehydration occurred in conjunction with a reversible phase transition between the monohydrate state and a dehydrated state, with a 4.0% w/w loss to 0% RH. A combination of methods was used to understand the structural changes occurring during the desolvation process, including dynamic vapor sorption measurements, thermal analysis and powder X-ray diffraction. Form I showed the characteristics of the channel hydrate, whose non-isothermal dehydration behavior proceeds in two steps: (1) the loss of non-crystalline water adsorbed on the surface, and (2) the loss of one crystalline water in the channel. Dehydrated Form I is structurally similar to the monohydrate Form I. According to the heat of fusion and the crystal density criteria, the two crystal forms belonged to the univariant system, and the anhydrate (Form III) is stable. The dehydration kinetics was achieved from the TG-DTG curves by both the Achar method and the Coats-Redfern method with 15 frequently cited basic kinetic models. The dynamic dehydration processes for steps 1 and 2 were best expressed by the Zhuralev-Lesokin-Tempelman equation, suggesting a three-dimensional diffusion-controlled mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Successful development of a new drug is prohibitively expensive, and is estimated to cost approximately $100—500 million US dollars for a single clinical drug. Yet, a newly developed drug can only enjoy its patent protection for 18 years, meaning that after this protected time period, any company can manufacture this product and thus the profit generated by this drug entity would reduce dramatically. Most critically, once a drug is being synthesized, its physical, chemical, and biological attributes such as bioavailability and in vivo pharmacokinetics are all completely fixed and cannot be changed. In principal and practice, only the application of an appropriately designed drug delivery system (DDS) is able to overcome such limitations, and yet the cost of developing a novel drug delivery system is less than 10% of that of developing a new drug. Because of these reasons, the new trend in pharmaceutical development has already begun to shift from the single direction of developing new drugs in the past to a combined mode of developing both new drugs and innovative drug delivery systems in this century. Hence, for developing countries with relatively limited financial resources, a smart strategic move would be to focus on the development of new DDS, which has a significantly higher benefit/risk ratio when comparing to the development of a new drug. Because of the unmatched reaction efficiency and a repetitive action mode, the therapeutic activity of a single bio-macromolecular drug (e.g., protein toxins, gene products, etc.) is equivalent to about 10 6–10 8 of that from a conventional small molecule anti-cancer agent (e.g., doxorubicin). Hence, bio-macromolecular drugs have been recognized around the world as the future “drug-ofchoice”. Yet, among the >10000 drugs that are currently available, only ∼150 of them belong to these biomacromolecular drugs (an exceedingly low 1.2%), reflecting the difficulties of utilizing these agents in clinical practice. In general, the bottleneck limitations of these biomacromolecular drugs are two-fold: (1) the absence of a preferential action of the drug on tumor cells as opposed to normal tissues, and (2) the lack of ability to cross the tumor cell membrane. In this review, we provide strategies of how to solve these problems simultaneously and collectively via the development of innovative drug delivery systems. Since worldwide progress on bio-macromolecular therapeutics still remains in the infant stage and thus open for an equal-ground competition, we wish that this review would echo the desire to industrialized countries such as China to set up its strategic plan on developing delivery systems for these bio-macromolecular drugs, thereby realizing their clinical potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The solubilities of donepezil hydrochloride polymorphic form III in methanol, ethanol, 1-propanol and dimethyl formamide were measured at temperatures ranging from 278.15 to 333.15 K at atmosphere pressure using a gravimetrical method. The modified Apelblat model fitted the experimental data well with the root-mean-square deviations less than 6.287 × 10. The dissolution enthalpy and entropy of solute were predicted from the solubility data in different solvents using the van't Hoff equation. The relationships among solubility, temperature, the intermolecular force and hydrogen bonding between solute and solvent, and the viscosity of solvents were investigated. The viscosity and surface tension of solvents affect the dissolution enthalpy and entropy of donepezil hydrochloride polymorphic form III. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the hope of overcoming the serious side effects, great endeavor has been made in tumor-targeted chemotherapy, and various drug delivery modalities and drug carriers have been made to decrease systemic toxicity caused by chemotherapeutic agents. Scientists from home and abroad focus on the research of targeted microbubbles contrast agent, and the use of the targeted ultrasound microbubble contrast agent can carry gene drugs and so on to the target tissue, as well as mediated tumor cell apoptosis and tumor microvascular thrombosis block, etc., thus plays the role of targeted therapy. Recent studies have elucidated the mechanisms of drug release and absorption, however, much work remains to be done in order to develop a successful and optimal system. In this review, we summarized the continuing efforts in understanding the usage of the ultrasound triggered target microbubbles in cancer therapy, from release mechanism to preparation methods. The latest applications of ultrasound-triggered targeted microbubbles in cancer therapy, especially in gene therapy and antiangiogenic cancer therapy were discussed. Moreover, we concluded that as a new technology, ultrasound-triggered targeted microbubbles used as drug carriers and imaging agents are still energetic and are very likely to be translated into clinic in the near future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amino-modified silica hydrogel (N-MSHG) was prepared by a simple sol-gel processing via the co-condensation of commercial silica sol with 3-aminopropyltrieoxysilane. Penicillin G acylase (PGA), a model enzyme, was covalently immobilized onto the N-MSHG and then was used for the enzymatic synthesis of amoxicillin. The samples were characterized by Nitrogen sorption analysis, FT-IR and thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA). The results showed that the amino-modified gel was a mesoporous material with an average pore size of 12.64±0.17 nm. The immobilization process was efficient and the immobilized enzyme showed high catalytic efficiency. The yield of the synthesis of amoxicillin in aqueous media was 38% for 2.5 h. This sol-gel preparation is simple and shows prominent potential value in industrial processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Macromolecular drugs including peptides, proteins, antibodies, polysaccharides and nucleic acids have been widely used for therapy of major diseases such as carcinoma and AIDS as well as cardiovascular and neurodegenerative disorders among other medical conditions. Due to their unmatched properties of high selectivity and efficiency, macromolecular drugs have been recognized as the drug-of-choice of the future. Since worldwide progress on macromolecular therapeutics still remains in the infant stage and is therefore wide open for equal-ground competition, R&D related to macromolecular drugs should be considered as the main point of focus in China in setting up its strategic plans in pharmaceutical development. In this article, research strategies and drug delivery approaches that should be adopted to enhance the therapeutic effects of macromolecular drugs are reviewed. In addition, comments concerning how to implement such strategies to excel from competition in this challenging research field, such as the design of innovative and highly effective delivery systems of macromolecular drugs with self-owned intellectual property rights, are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Effective optical constants of Ag thin films are precisely determined with effective thickness simultaneously by using an ellipsometry iterated with transmittance method. Unlike the bulk optical constants in Palik's database the effective optical constants of ultrathin Ag films are found to strongly depend on the thickness. According to the optical data two branches of thickness dispersion of surface plasmon energy are derived and agreed with theoretical predication. The thickness dispersion of bulk plasmon is also observed. The influence of substrate on surface plasmon is verified for the first time by using ellipsometry. The thickness dependent effective energy loss function is thus obtained based on this optical method for Ag ultrathin films. This method is also applicable to other ultrathin films and can be used to establish an effective optical database for ultrathin films. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]