The influence of dissolution conditions on the drug ADME phenomena

In this work, a review of the apparatuses available to mimic what happens to a drug (or to foodstuffs) once ingested is presented. Similarly, a brief review of the models proposed to simulate the fate of a drug administered to a living body is reported. Then, the release kinetics of extended release of diclofenac from a commercial enteric-coated tablet was determined both in a conventional dissolution tester (USP Apparatus 2, Method A) as well as in an apparatus modified to reproduce a given pH evolution, closer to the real one than the one suggested by USP. The two experimental release profiles were reported and discussed; therefore, they were adopted as input functions for a previously proposed pharmacokinetic model. The obtained evolutions with time of plasma concentration were presented and used to assess the effectiveness of the commercial pharmaceutical products. The importance of a correct in vitro simulation for the design of pharmaceutical dosage systems was thus emphasized.

Graphical abstractThe kinetic of the drug release, and the subsequent ADME phenomena, are strongly influenced by the dissolution conditions.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide