Development of Sustained Release "Nanopolypill" of Ischemic Heart Disease Drugs - An Experimental Study

Title:Development of Sustained Release "Nanopolypill" of Ischemic Heart Disease Drugs - An Experimental Study

Volume: 10 Issue: 6

Author(s): Anjuman Arora, Nusrat Shafiq, Sanjay Jain, G.K. Khuller, Sadhana Sharma, Avaneesh K. Pandey and Samir Malhotra

Affiliation:

Keywords: Cardiovascular drug delivery, fixed-dose combinations, IHD, nanopolypill, pharmacokinetics, sustained release.

Abstract: Background: The present study was planned to formulate, characterize and evaluate the pharmacokinetics of a novel “nanopolypill” comprising four commonly prescribed cardiovascular drugs, atorvastatin, aspirin, atenolol and candesartan.

Methods: The candidate drugs were loaded in Poly (DL-lactide-co-gycolide) (PLGA) by emulsion- diffusion-evaporation method. The formulations were evaluated for their size, morphology, drug loading and in vitro release individually. Single dose pharmacokinetic profiles of the nanoformulations alone and in combination, as a nanopolypill, were evaluated in Wistar rats.

Results: The candidate drugs were encapsulated inside PLGA with entrapment efficiencies ranging from 27.8%, 33.5%, 47.5% and 62.9% for aspirin, candesartan, atenolol and atorvastatin respectively. The nanoparticles ranged in size from 50 to 169 nm. In vitro release profile of the nanoformulation showed 100% release by day 6 in the physiological pH 7.4 set up with PBS (phosphate buffer saline) and by day 4-5 in the intestinal pH 1.2 and 8.0 set up SGF (simulated gastric fluid) and SIF (simulated intestinal fluid) respectively. In pharmacokinetic analysis a sustained-release for 6 days and significant increase in the mean residence time (MRT), as compared to the respective free drugs was noted [MRT of atorvastatin, atenolol, aspirin and candesartan changed from 12.9 to 75.75 hours, 8.5 to 74.19 hours, 15.8 to 53.06 hours, and 12.6 to 94.92 hours respectively].

Conclusions: We have shown for the first time that encapsulating atorvastatin, aspirin, atenolol and candesartan into a single nanoformulation, to get the “nanopolypill” is a feasible strategy which has a potential of decreasing pill burden.

Cite this article as:

Arora Anjuman, Shafiq Nusrat, Jain Sanjay, Khuller G.K., Sharma Sadhana, Pandey K. Avaneesh and Malhotra Samir, Development of Sustained Release "Nanopolypill" of Ischemic Heart Disease Drugs - An Experimental Study, Current Nanoscience 2014; 10 (6) . https://dx.doi.org/10.2174/1573413710666140512221814