Physiologically Based Absorption Modeling for Amorphous Solid Dispersion Formulations

Abstract

Amorphous solid dispersion (ASD) formulations are routinely used to enable the delivery of poorly soluble compounds. This type of formulations can enhance bioavailability due to higher kinetic solubility of the drug substance and increased dissolution rate of the formulation, by the virtue of the fact that the drug molecule exists in the formulation in a high energy amorphous state. In this article we report the application of physiologically based absorption models to mechanistically understand the clinical pharmacokinetics of solid dispersion formulations. Three case studies are shown here to cover a wide range of ASD bioperformance in human and modeling to retrospectively understand their in vivo behavior. Case study 1 is an example of fairly linear PK observed with dose escalation and the use of amorphous solubility to predict bioperformance. Case study 2 demonstrates the development of a model that was able to accurately predict the decrease in fraction absorbed (%Fa) with dose escalation thus demonstrating that such model can be used to predict the clinical bioperformance in the scenario where saturation of absorption is observed. Finally, case study 3 shows the development of an absorption model with the intent to describe the observed incomplete and low absorption in clinic with dose escalation. These case studies highlight the utility of physiologically based absorption modeling in gaining a thorough understanding of ASD performance and the critical factors impacting performance to drive design of a robust drug product that would deliver the optimal benefit to the patients.

Keywords: PBPK; absorption modeling; amorphous; dissolution; pharmacokinetics; solid dispersion.