Co-spray dried mannitol-ciprofloxacin dry powder inhaler for cystic fibrosis

Eur J Pharm Sci. 2010 Apr 2.

Co-spray dried mannitol-ciprofloxacin dry powder inhaler for cystic fibrosis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Adi H, Young PM, Chan HK, Agus H, Traini D.

Advanced Drug Delivery Group, Faculty of Pharmacy (A15), University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.

Abstract
The aim of this study was to assess the potential of delivering a combination therapy, containing mannitol (a sugar alcohol with osmotic characteristics), and ciprofloxacin hydrochloride, (an antibacterial fluoroquinolone), as a dry powder inhaler (DPI) formulation for inhalation.

Single and combination powders were produced by spray drying ciprofloxacin and mannitol, from aqueous solution, at different ratios and under controlled conditions, as to obtain similar particle size distributions. Each formulation was characterised using laser diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, dynamic vapour sorption, X-ray powder diffraction, and colloidal force microscopy.

The in vitro aerosol performance of each formulation was studied using an Aerolizer(R) DPI device and a multistage liquid impinger (analysed using high performance liquid chromatography). In addition, a disk diffusion test was performed to assess the in vitro antimicrobial activity of each formulation and starting materials.

All formulations had similar particle size distributions, however, the morphology, thermal properties and moisture sorption was dependent on the relative percentages of each component. In general, the combination formulation containing 50% w/w mannitol appeared to have the best aerosol performance, good stability and lowest particle cohesion (as measured by colloid probe microscopy. Furthermore, of the formulations tested, mannitol did not appear to alter the effectiveness of the ciprofloxacin antimicrobial activity to Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Streptococcus pyrogenes.

The combination of co-spray dried mannitol and ciprofloxacin from a DPI is an attractive approach to promote mucous clearance in the respiratory tract while simultaneously treating local chronic infection, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and cystic fibrosis.