Development of SS-AG20-loaded Polymeric Microparticles by Oil-in-Water (o/w) Emulsion Solvent Evaporation and Spray Drying Methods for Sustained Drug Delivery

Controlled drug delivery systems employing microparticles offer lots of advantages over conventional drug dosage formulations. Microencapsulation technique have been conducted with biodegradable polymers such as poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) and poly(lactic acid) (PLA) for its adjustable biodegradability and biocompatibility. In this study, we evaluated two techniques, oil-in-water (o/w) emulsion solvent evaporation and spray drying, for preparation of polymeric microparticles encapsulating a newly synthesized drug, SS-AG20, for the long-term drug delivery of this low-molecular-weight drug with a very short half-life. Drug-loaded microparticles prepared by the solvent evaporation method showed a smoother morphology; however, relatively poor encapsulation efficiency and drastic initial burst were discovered as drawbacks. Spray-dried drug-loaded microparticles had an imperfect surface with pores and distorted portions so that its initial burst was critical (70.05-87.16%) when the preparation was carried out with a 5% polymeric solution. By increasing the concentration of the polymer, the morphology was refined and undesirable initial burst was circumvented (burst was reduced to 35.93-74.85%) while retaining high encapsulation efficiency. Moreover, by encapsulating the drug with various biodegradable polymers using the spray drying method, gradual and sustained drug release, for up to 2 weeks, was achieved.