In the world of pharmaceutical innovation, the challenge of poor solubility in new chemical entities (NCEs) continues to shape drug development strategies. With nearly 90% of drugs in the development pipeline classified as poorly soluble, the need for effective formulation technologies has never been greater. One breakthrough solution that has garnered significant attention is nanosuspension technology—an advanced approach to enhancing drug solubility, bioavailability, and overall therapeutic efficacy.
Ascendia Pharmaceutical Solutions stands at the forefront of this innovation, offering cutting-edge nanosuspension capabilities that address the most pressing challenges in drug formulation. In this article published in Drug Development & Delivery, Shaukat Ali, PhD, Senior Director of Scientific Affairs and Technical Marketing, and Jim Huang, PhD, founder and CEO, delve into the transformative impact of nanosuspension technology and its broad applicability across multiple routes of administration, including oral, injectable, ocular, pulmonary, and topical drug delivery.
What Are Nanosuspensions?
Nanosuspensions are finely dispersed colloidal systems containing nano-sized drug particles stabilized by excipients. Unlike conventional solubilization techniques, nanosuspensions improve dissolution rates without requiring the drug to be in a soluble state. By reducing particle size, nanosuspensions significantly enhance drug absorption, ensuring improved therapeutic performance and bioavailability. This technology is especially beneficial for molecules with high melting points, poor lipid solubility, and other challenging physicochemical properties.
How Do Nanosuspensions Improve Drug Performance?
Ascendia’s article highlights several key advantages of nanosuspensions:
- Enhanced Solubility & Bioavailability – By increasing the surface area of drug particles, nanosuspensions facilitate faster dissolution and absorption, resulting in improved bioavailability.
- Depot Drug Delivery for Long-Acting Injectables – The reduced particle size allows for higher per-volume drug loading, making nanosuspensions ideal for sustained-release formulations via subcutaneous or intramuscular administration.
- Minimized Dose Variability – Unlike traditional suspensions, nanosuspensions demonstrate consistent drug release, reducing the risks of dose dumping and food effect variability.
- Versatile Sterilization – Nanosuspensions can be sterilized using multiple methods, including filtration, heat, steam, and radiation, making them suitable for sterile applications such as injectables and ocular formulations.
Advanced Formulation Techniques: Ascendia’s Expertise
Ascendia Pharmaceutical Solutions employs top-down and bottom-up approaches to produce nanosuspensions, ensuring optimal particle size distribution and stability.
Top-Down Methods:
- Wet/Media Milling – This technique uses high-shear forces to break down drug crystals into nano-sized particles. It is highly scalable and allows for high drug-loading concentrations.
- High-Pressure Homogenization – A technique that applies intense shear forces and cavitation to achieve nano-sizing, making it ideal for sterile and aseptic formulations.
Bottom-Up Methods:
- Precipitation & Microemulsion Processes – These methods rely on controlled solvent evaporation and emulsification techniques to create stable nanosized particles. Ascendia’s expertise in solvent inversion methods further ensures precise particle size control for enhanced performance.
Applications of Nanosuspension Technology
Ascendia’s capabilities extend across multiple drug delivery platforms, demonstrating the versatility of nanosuspension formulations:
- Oral Drug Delivery – By improving dissolution rates, nanosuspensions increase bioavailability for orally administered drugs. Examples like Atovaquone and Naproxen have shown significant pharmacokinetic improvements using this technology.
- Injectable Formulations – Long-acting injectables (LAIs) benefit from nanosuspensions by offering sustained drug release and reduced systemic toxicity, making them ideal for treating chronic conditions.
- Ocular & Pulmonary Drug Delivery – Nanosuspensions enhance corneal penetration for eye treatments and improve lung residence time in pulmonary applications, offering effective localized therapy with minimal systemic exposure.
Why Choose Ascendia Pharmaceutical Solutions?
With a state-of-the-art cGMP facility, a team of industry-leading experts, and proprietary nanotechnology platforms, Ascendia offers comprehensive nanosuspension solutions tailored to meet the needs of modern drug development. Our expertise in stabilizer selection, particle size optimization, and scalable manufacturing ensures that clients receive the highest quality nanosuspension formulations for both small molecules and biologics.
For a deeper dive into the science and applications of nanosuspensions, explore the full article by Dr. Ali and Dr. Huang. Learn how Ascendia Pharmaceutical Solutions is revolutionizing drug delivery and enabling the next generation of therapeutics.
To learn more about how we can solve your complex drug development projects, contact us.