A series of poorly soluble BCS class II compounds with "grease ball" characteristics were assessed for solubility and dissolution rate in biorelevant dissolution media (BDM) with the purpose of investigating which molecular structures gain most in solubility when dissolved under physiologically relevant conditions. The compounds were studied in four media (simulated intestinal fluid in fasted (FaSSIF pH 6.5) and fed state (FeSSIF pH 5.0), and their corresponding blank buffers (FaSSIF(blk) and FeSSIF(blk))) at a temperature of 37 °C. The experimental results were used to analyze which molecular characteristics are of importance for the solubility in BDM and for in silico modeling using multivariate data analysis. It was revealed that a majority of the compounds exhibited a higher dissolution rate and higher solubility in the FaSSIF and FeSSIF than in their corresponding blank buffers. Compounds which were neutral or carried a positive charge were more soluble in FeSSIF than FaSSIF. The acidic compounds displayed clear pH dependency, although the higher concentration of solubilizing agents in FeSSIF than FaSSIF also improved the solubility. Five of the ten compounds were upgraded to BCS class I when dissolved in FaSSIF or FeSSIF, i.e., the maximum dose of these compounds given orally was soluble in 250 mL of these BDMs. Lipophilicity as described by the log D(oct) value was identified as a good predictor of the solubilization ratio (R(2) = 0.74), and computed molecular descriptors were also shown to successfully predict the solubilities in BDM for this data set. To conclude, the physiological solubility of "grease ball" molecules may be largely underestimated in in vitro solubility assays unless BDM is used. Moreover, the results herein indicate that the improvement obtained in BDM may be possible to predict from chemical features alone.

Ethanol intake can lead to an unexpected and possibly problematic increase in the bioavailability of druglike compounds. In this work we investigated the effect of ethanol on the apparent solubility and dissolution rate of poorly soluble compounds in simulated intestinal fluid representing a preprandial state. A series of 22 structurally diverse, poorly soluble compounds were measured for apparent solubility and intrinsic dissolution rate (37 °C) in phosphate buffer pH 6.5 (PhB6.5) and fasted state simulated intestinal fluid (FaSSIF, pH 6.5) with and without ethanol at 5% v/v or 20% v/v. The obtained data were used to understand for which molecules ethanol results in an increased apparent solubility and, therefore, may increase the amount of drug absorbed. In FaSSIF20%ethanol 59% of the compounds displayed >3-fold higher apparent solubility than in pure FaSSIF, whereas the effects of 5% ethanol on solubility, in most cases, were negligible. Acidic and neutral compounds were more solubilized by the addition of ethanol than by lecithin/taurocholate aggregates, whereas bases showed a more substance-specific response to the additives in the buffer. The stronger solubilizing capacity of ethanol as compared to the mixed lipid aggregates in FaSSIF was further identified through Spearman rank analyses, which showed a stronger relationship between FaSSIF20%ethanol and PhB6.5,20%ethanol (rS of 0.97) than FaSSIF20%ethanol and FaSSIF (rS of 0.86). No relationships were found between solubility changes in media containing ethanol and single physicochemical properties, but multivariate data analysis showed that inclusion of ethanol significantly reduced the negative effect of compound lipophilicity on solubility. For this data set the higher concentration of ethanol gave a dose number (Do) <1 for 30% of the compounds that showed incomplete dissolution in FaSSIF. Significant differences were shown in the melting point, lipophilicity, and dose profiles between the compounds having a Do < 1 and Do > 1, with the latter having higher absolute values in all three parameters. In conclusion, this study showed that significant effects of ethanol on apparent solubility in the preprandial state can be expected for lipophilic compounds. The results herein indicate that acidic and neutral compounds are more sensitive to the addition of ethanol than to the mixed lipid aggregates present in the fasted intestine.

PurposeTo develop predictive models of apparent solubility (Sapp) of lipophilic drugs in fasted state simulated intestinal fluid (FaSSIF) and aspirated human intestinal fluid (HIF).MethodsMeasured Sapp values in FaSSIF, HIF and phosphate buffer pH 6.5 (PhBpH6.5) for 86 lipophilic drugs were compiled and divided into training (Tr) and test (Te) sets. Projection to latent structure (PLS) models were developed through variable selection of calculated molecular descriptors. Experimentally determined properties were included to investigate their contribution to the predictions.ResultsModest relationships between Sapp in PhBpH6.5 and FaSSIF (R2 = 0.61) or HIF (R2 = 0.62) were found. As expected, there was a stronger correlation obtained between FaSSIF and HIF (R2 = 0.78). Computational models were developed using calculated descriptors alone (FaSSIF, R2 = 0.69 and RMSEte of 0.77; HIF, R2 = 0.84 and RMSEte of 0.81). Accuracy improved when solubility in PhBpH6.5 was added as a descriptor (FaSSIF, R2 = 0.76 and RMSETe of 0.65; HIF, R2 = 0.86 and RMSETe of 0.69), whereas no improvement was seen when melting point (Tm) or logDpH 6.5 were included in the models.ConclusionComputational models were developed, that reliably predicted Sapp of lipophilic compounds in intestinal fluid, from molecular structures alone. If experimentally determined pH-dependent solubility values were available, this further improved the accuracy of the predictions.

Esterification was used to simultaneously increase solubility and permeability of ciprofloxacin, a biopharmaceutics classification system (BCS) class 4 drug (low solubility/low permeability) with solid-state limited solubility. Molecular flexibility was increased to disturb the crystal lattice, lower the melting point, and thereby improve the solubility, whereas lipophilicity was increased to enhance the intestinal permeability. These structural changes resulted in BCS class 1 analogues (high solubility/high permeability) emphasizing that simple medicinal chemistry may improve both these properties.

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