Background COVID-19 lockdown has forced pharmacy education to be conducted remotely for approximately half of the second semester in the year 2019/2020. This sudden shift to distance learning has put the pharmacy education system through an extraordinary experience that may impact its future. Objective To investigate the effect emergency remote teaching has had on pharmacy education in Saudi Arabia, and to provide recommendations that may help set in place a contingency strategy. Methods Two cross-sectional Likert-scale based questionnaires targeted at students and teachers separately, designed to explore stakeholders' satisfaction in three areas of emergency distance teaching/learning: The use of virtual classrooms, completion of course learning outcomes (CLOs) and assessment via alternative methods during the COVID-19 lockdown period. Furthermore, phone interviews were conducted with teachers and students to discuss results from both questionnaires for further clarity on teacher and student views. Results Over 700 pharmacy students, from 19 different local colleges, and 74 faculty members from 10 different local colleges have participated in this study. While it was challenging for the majority of teachers (>60%) to delivery complex scientific concepts over virtual classrooms, >35% of students and 60% of teachers have expressed concerns on the lack of student–student and student–teacher interactions. A factor that has shown a significantly negative correlation with student overall satisfaction (p < 0.01). Emergency remote teaching has forced teachers to alternative assessment methods, which the majority (70%) believe had a positive effect on students' overall skills. Almost half of students (45%) were concerned by the lack of guidance accompanied by unfamiliar methods of assessments. Conclusions Based on statistically analysed results from cross sectional Likert-scale questionnaires aimed at stakeholders of pharmaceutical education, this study concludes with a number of recommendations that may help pharmacy colleges seize this unique opportunity to further enhance the quality of pharmacy education in Saudi Arabia.

. (2016). Naloxone without the needle systematic review of candidate routes for non-injectable naloxone for opioid overdose reversal. Drug and Alcohol Dependence. DOI: 10.1016DOI: 10. /j.drugalcdep.2016 Citing this paper Please note that where the full-text provided on King's Research Portal is the Author Accepted Manuscript or Post-Print version this may differ from the final Published version. If citing, it is advised that you check and use the publisher's definitive version for pagination, volume/issue, and date of publication details. And where the final published version is provided on the Research Portal, if citing you are again advised to check the publisher's website for any subsequent corrections. General rightsCopyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the Research Portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognize and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights.•Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the Research Portal for the purpose of private study or research.•You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain •You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the Research Portal Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact librarypure@kcl.ac.uk providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. After 40 years of injection-based naloxone treatment, non-injectable routes are finally being developed. Nasal naloxone has recently been approved and will soon be fieldtested, buccal naloxone holds promise, and it is unclear what sublingual naloxone will contribute. Development and approval of reliable non-injectable formulations will facilitate wider naloxone provision across the community internationally.

Background and purpose: Conventional topical ophthalmic aqueous solutions and suspensions are often associated with low bioavailability and high administration frequency, pulsatile dose and poor exposure to certain ocular parts. The aim of this study was to develop an ophthalmic nanoparticles loaded gel, for delivering prednisolone acetate (PA), to increase dosing accuracy, bioavailability, and accordingly, efficiency of PA in treating inflammatory ocular diseases. Methods: A novel formulation of self-assembled nanoparticles was prepared by the complexation of chitosan (CS) and, the counter-ion, sodium deoxycholate (SD), loaded with the poorly-water-soluble PA. Particle size, zeta potential, encapsulation efficiency (EE) and drug loading content (LC) of prepared nanoparticles were assessed. Moreover, the nanoparticles were characterized using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Drug release and eye anti-inflammatory potential of the prepared novel formulation was investigated. Results: Mean particle size of the nanoparticles have dropped from 976 nm ±43 (PDI 1.285) to 480 nm ±28 (PDI 1.396) when the ratio of CS-SD was decreased. The incorporation of 0.1-0.3% of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), in the preparation stages, resulted in smaller nanoparticles: 462 nm ±19 (PDI 0.942) and 321 nm ±22 (PDI 0.454) respectively. DSC and FTIR results demonstrated the interaction between CS and SD, however, no interactions were detected between PA and CS or SD. Drug release of PA as received, in simulated tears fluid (pH 7.4), showed a twofold increase (reaching an average of 98.6% in 24 hours) when incorporated into an optimized nanoparticle gel formulation (1:5 CS-SD). Conclusion: The anti-inflammatory effect of PA nanoparticles loaded gel on female guinea pig eyes was significantly superior to that of the micronized drug loaded gel ( P < 0.05).

Conversion into the amorphous form enhances the dissolution of poorly soluble drugs, however the barrier to market for medicines containing an amorphous drug is poor stability. The aim was to produce the amorphous form of a drug within a capsule, without thermal or mechanical stress during manufacture. To facilitate this aim, the mechanism for drug-polymer interaction was explored. Nifedipine and polyvinylpyrrolidone were dissolved in tert-butanol at different drug/polymer ratios. These solutions were dispensed into gelatin capsules and freeze-dried. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) & novel FT-IR analysis based on peak symmetry measurements confirmed the absence of crystallinity when polyvinylpyrrolidone exceeded 50%w/w. Capsules containing 10 mg of nifedipine were amorphous and stable for over 3 months at ≈40 °C. Evidence of hydrogen bonding between the N-H group of nifedipine and the C=O group of PVP was observed and this interaction inhibited nifedipine crystallisation. PVP’s high affinity for water and the nifedipine-polymer interaction lead to a significant dissolution rate enhancement. The freeze-dried capsule, 10%w/w nifedipine/PVP, had the highest dissolution rate constant of 0.37 ± 0.05 min−1, and the lowest time to achieve 50% dissolution or t1/2 of 1.88 ± 0.05 min. This formulation reached 80% dissolved in less than 6 min whereas the equivalent marketed liquid filled nifedipine capsule took 3 times longer to reach 80% dissolution.

Introduction: Presenting poorly water-soluble drugs as nanoparticles has shown to be an effective technique in enhancing drug dissolution rate, intrinsic solubility, and thus oral bioavailability. Nevertheless, working with nanoparticles introduces many challenges, one of which is their physical instability. Formulating nanoparticles into a solid dosage form may overcome such challenges and thus unlock the potential benefits of nanosizing. Methods: The current work investigates the possibility of developing a novel solid dosage form, with enhanced dissolution rate, whereby nanocrystals (~400 nm) of the class II Biopharmaceutical Classification System drug, glyburide (GBD) were fabricated through combined precipitation and homogenization procedures. Using a novel, but scalable, spraying technique, GBD nanocrystals were loaded onto commonly used tablet fillers, water-soluble lactose monohydrate (LAC), and water insoluble microcrystalline cellulose (MCC). Conventional tableting processes were then used to convert the powders generated into a tablet dosage form. Results: Studies of redispersibility showed considerable preservation of size characteristics of GBD nanocrystals during downstream processing with redispersibility indices of 105 and 118 for GBD-LAC and GBD-MCC, respectively. Characterization by differential scanning calorimetry, powder X-ray diffraction, and scanning electron microscopy showed that the powders generated powders contained nanosized crystals of GBD which adhered to carrier surfaces. Powder flowability was characterized using Hausner ratio (HR) and Carr's index (CI). GBD-LAC-loaded particles exhibited poor flowability with CI and HR of 37.5% and 1.60, respectively, whilst GBD-MCC particles showed a slightly improved flowability with CI and HR of 26.47% and 1.36, respectively. The novel tablet dosage form met US Pharmacopeia specifications, including drug content, hardness, and friability. Conclusion: Higher dissolution rates were observed from the nanocrystal-based tablets compared to the microsized and commercial drug formulations. Moreover, the novel nanocrystal tablet dosage forms showed enhanced in vivo performance with area under the plasma concentrationtime curve in the first 24 hours values 1.97 and 2.24 times greater than that of marketed tablets.