Many new therapeutic candidates and active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) are poorly soluble in an aqueous environment, resulting in their reduced bioavailability. A promising way of enhancing the release of an API and, thus, its bioavailability seems to be the use of liquid oil marbles (LOMs). An LOM system behaves as a solid form but consists of an oil droplet in which an already dissolved API is encapsulated by a powder. This study aims to optimize the oil/powder combination for the development of such systems. LOMs were successfully prepared for 15 oil/powder combinations, and the following properties were investigated: particle mass fraction, dissolution time, and mechanical stability. Furthermore, the release of API from both LOMs and LOMs encapsulated into gelatine capsules was studied.
Keywords: dissolution; enhanced release; liquid oil marbles.
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