Porous hydroxyapatite tablets as carriers for low-dosed drugs

The present study evaluated an innovative technique for the manufacturing of low-dosed tablets. Tablets containing hydroxyapatite and a pore forming agent (50% (w/w) Avicel PH 200/20, 37.5% and 50% corn starch/37.5% sorbitol) were manufactured by direct compression followed by sintering. The influence of pore forming agent (type and concentration), sinter temperature and sinter time on tablet properties was investigated. Sintering (1250 °C) revealed tablets with an acceptable friability (<1%). Using 50% (w/w) Avicel PH 200 as pore forming agent resulted in tablets combining the highest porosity (50%) and the highest median pore diameter (5 μm). Aqueous drug solutions (metoprolol tartrate, riboflavin sodium phosphate) were spiked on the tablet surface. The maximum volume of drug solution absorbed was limited (2 × 100μl), revealing that these porous carriers were ideal for low dosed formulations. Drug release from the tablets was slow, independent of the drug. To accelerate drug release, tablets were manufactured using a modified gelcasting technique yielding tablets with a median pore size of 60 and 80 μm. Release from these tablets was drastically increased indicating that the permeability of the tablets was influenced by the pore size, shape and connectivity of the porous network. Changing and controlling these parameters made it possible to obtain drug delivery systems providing different drug delivery behaviour.