New Pharmaceutical Applications Demand Intelligent Sorbents

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

New pharmaceutical drugs are coming onto the market based on chemistries that were in preclinical discovery stages years ago but abandoned because at the time the drug chemistries were considered too unstable. Thanks to new formulation and packaging technologies, some of these molecules are being reintroduced into drug product formulations that can be tested clinically and eventually marketed in commercial packaging presentations.

This is putting increasing pressure on packaging engineers who are charged with keeping pharmaceuticals stable. These engineers increasingly need to work with formulation chemists to understand the specifics of the compounds they are packaging, and the standard tools at their disposal – traditional desiccant products – no longer satisfy the package protection needs.

An intelligent sorbent is designed to provide a specific management outcome, which could be controlling the level of moisture, oxygen, and/or hydrocarbons in a pharmaceutical packaging system. A sorbent might be used to maintain a specific humidity range to maintain a drug's stability, or reduce or eliminate volatilized hydrocarbons. In some cases it is necessary for a sorbent to carry out multiple protective functions.

An important function of the modern-day sorbent involves hydrocarbon management. Residual solvents used from synthesizing drug substances or active pharmaceutical ingredients, can form volatized hydrocarbons that end up in the headspace of a pharmaceutical bottle. This produces a noxious odor that must be removed through the use of activated carbon. In these instances an intelligent sorbent can be tailored to perform the dual function of removing odors while at the same time maintaining moisture control.