Transient drug supersaturation kinetics of beclomethasone dipropionate in rapidly drying films

Supersaturation is an effective method to enhance the delivery of active compounds into the skin, however the long-term instability of the drug in these formulations that exceed thermodynamic unity prevents clinical use. The creation of supersaturation in situ by volatile solvent evaporation after application may overcome this. The aim of this study was to determine how altering the kinetics of transient supersaturation and recrystallisation would effect the rate of beclomethasone dipropionate (BDP) release from metered dose aerosols (MDA) that also consisted of hydrofluoroalkane 134a, ethanol (EtOH), and poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP) K90. An MDA containing 10% EtOH generated a sub-saturated concentration of BDP immediately after dose actuation and did not become supersaturated until 30 min post-actuation. Increasing the EtOH to 20% (w/w) and thus the BDP to 1.76% created supersaturation upon dose actuation but the drug recyrstallised within minutes of application. It was shown that the formulations with higher DS had accelerated rates of release despite rapid recrystallisation (444.9 ± 79.3 μg/(cm2 h) for the fastest compared to 206.5 ± 23.0 μg/(cm2 h) for the slowest). In highly volatile sprays maintaining BDP supersaturation for extended periods of time was less important than generating instantaneous, high levels of supersaturation to enhance drug release.