Beyond Desiccants: Sorbent Technology Embraces New Challenges

By Adrian Possumato, Global Director, Healthcare Packaging, Multisorb Technologies

Scientific advances in the pharmaceutical industry have given rise to new stability challenges and consequently, have created an increased need for more advanced desiccants, moisture regulators, oxygen absorbers, and other forms of sorbent technology.  In this competitive market, taking a QbD approach by introducing the use of sorbent technology during the early development stages becomes critical to getting your product to market ahead of competitors. 

Several trends in the industry in recent years have led to an increased awareness of the importance of sorbent technology. The number of generic drugs has increased as branded drug patents are expiring.  The use of different excipients and formulations can result in a unique stability profile. In some cases, advanced sorbent technology can be useful in helping manufacturers to meet the stability profile of those drugs coming off patent.

Drug manufacturers are finding that some drug products they rejected in the preclinical development stage of research due to instability can be reformulated, and with the use of advanced sorbent technologies – they have become feasible candidates for drug product formulations again. 

Other advances have allowed new and existing drugs to be reformulated to offer specific functions, such as formulations using time release, tamper-resistant, rapid release, or targeted release technologies. These drug formulations often have specific chemical and physical stability requirements that can be addressed with the use of advanced sorbent technology.

In some cases, drug/device combination products can result in unique physical stability challenges.