چکیده (انگلیسی):

Microsphere technology has been studied extensively for
the sustained delivery of therapeutic agents [1-5]. One of
the crucial steps in preparing drug-incorporated
microparticulate products is recovery of the solid from
slurry and having the final products in a dry form. This
becomes increasingly difficult as the size of the
microparticulate decreases. The standard methods such
as centrifugation and filtration, followed by vacuum or
freeze-drying, involves several transfer steps resulting in
loss of product and risk of contamination, the latter being
quite serious when an aseptic process is required [6].
As illustrated in Figure 1, the Sweco PharmASep
technology, a Vibro-Filter DryerTM system (Sweco, Inc,
Florence, KY) [7-10], has been designed to facilitate
aseptic transfer of all the solid-containing slurry from the
reactor vessel and/or the quench tank, removal of the
slurry liquid media, drying of the collected solid product
by purge-air/vacuum application, and efficient recovery
of the dried particles. The PharmASep unit also
facilitates washing and rinsing of the particles before
drying.
The purpose of this study was to assess the feasibility of
the PharmASep technology for processing microspheres
or microparticulate drug-delivery systems.