Amelioration of physicochemical, pharmaceutical, and pharmacokinetic properties of lornoxicam by cocrystallization with a novel coformer

Abstract

Objective

The present study was aimed to prepare and characterize new cocrystals of lornoxicam (LORX), a BCS class II drug employing 1,3-dimethyl urea (DMU) as a coformer to improve physicochemical, pharmaceutical, and pharmacokinetic performance.

Methods

A screening study was conducted by employing three techniques viz. neat grinding, liquid-assisted grinding (LAG), and solvent evaporation (SE) using different drug–coformer molar ratios (1:1, 1:2, and 1:3). Samples were characterized by DSC, PXRD, ATR-FTIR, SEM, intrinsic dissolution rate (IDR) studies, compressional studies, and pharmacokinetic studies. In vitro dissolution and stability studies (25 °C/60%RH and 40 °C/75%RH for three months) were carried out for cocrystal tablets.

Results

LAG and SE were found successful in ratio 1:3 and IDR showed approximately 28- and 19-fold increase, respectively in 0.1 N HCl (pH 1.2) and buffer (pH 7.4) as compared to pure LORX. The cocrystal exhibited good tabletability and was ∼2.5 times that of LORX at 6000 Psi. Dissolution profiles of tablets of cocrystal increased (56% and 100% at pH 1.2 and 7.4, respectively in contrast to those of physical mixture (PhyMix) (∼35% and ∼10%) and pure LORX (∼17% and ∼7%) within 60 min. The C_max and AUC_0–∞ for the selected cocrystal were significantly increased (p < 0.05) which was 2.4 and 2.5 times, respectively, that of LORX in a single dose oral pharmacokinetic study executed in rabbits. Tablets of cocrystal were found stable at both conditions.

Conclusion

The study indicates that cocrystallization with DMU can concomitantly improve tabletability, dissolution rate, and in vivo performance of dissolution limited drug LORX.

Keywords:

• Cocrystals
• lornoxicam
• intrinsic dissolution rate
• tabletability
• in vitro dissolution

Acknowledgment

The authors would like to thank Mr. Abdul Muqeet Khan from the University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences for helping in pharmacokinetic analysis.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).