From AAPS: Capsugel showcases Licaps for poorly soluble compounds

A good percentage of pharmaceutical candidates fail because of poor water solubility. Granted, such rejects are detected early in development, long before companies suffer financially from wasted R&D time and expense. Nevertheless, eliminating insolubility or poor solubility as a hurdle to product introduction means many more compounds will make it to the clinic and into the marketplace.

If poor solubility has sunk more of your candidate drugs than you like, you should check out Licaps capsules from Capsugel (Greenwood, SC), which allow delivery of poorly soluble drugs as excipient-enhanced liquids or semi-solids. Licaps are two-piece gelatin capsules that have been specially designed to be sealed securely for containment of liquids and semi-solids.

According to Capsugel (a division of Pfizer), Licaps capsule, in combination with a liquid fill, provides an attractive and viable dosage form, particularly for poorly soluble compounds.

Liquid advantage
Licaps are compatible with a wide range of excipients that improve the solubility and bioavailability of a compound. Licaps capsules exhibit low oxygen permeability and dissolution characteristics that may be useful for sustained release applications. A liquid fill enables easier manufacture of small batches when minimal quantities of active are available, while offering improved content uniformity of low dose compounds.

Reduced time to market
Capsugel hopes to be an "extra set of hands" that pharmaceutical companies will turn to to support development, technology transfer, and market introduction. The first step in partnering with them is to have Capsugel test specific formulations to assure compatibility with Licaps. If the drug is compatible, Capsugel will then run filling trials on specialized sealing machine in their research center.

Visit the Capsugel booth (#s 518 and 519) at AAPS.

For more information, contact Daniel Healy of Capsugel at 864-942-3062.

By Angelo DePalma
Managing Editor, Pharmaceutical Online and Drug Discovery Online
Email: adepalma@vertical.net