Amorphous solid dispersions and nanocrystal technologies for poorly water-soluble drug delivery – An update

Poor water-solubility remains a typical property of drug candidates in pharmaceutical development pipelines today. Various processes have been developed to increase the solubility, dissolution rate, and bioavailability of these active ingredients belonging to biopharmaceutical classification system (BCS) II and IV classifications. Since the early 2000s, nanocrystal delivery and amorphous solid dispersions are more established techniques to overcome the limitations of poorly-water soluble drugs in FDA available products. This article provides an updated review of nanocrystal and amorphous solid dispersion techniques primarily for orally delivered medicaments. The thermodynamic and kinetic theories relative to these technologies are presented along with marketed product evaluations and a survey of commercially relevant scientific literature.