Oral bioavailability is a measure of the amount of an oral administered drug dose that is absorbed in the bloodstream. Many new chemical entities (NCEs) developed in the pharmaceutical industry have poor bioavailability because of either lower solubility or extensive first-pass elimination. Because of reduced bioavailability, these drugs need to be administered in higher doses, which may result in adverse effects for patients. It also makes dosage form development a challenge. Currently, sophisticated technologies such as spray drying and hot melt extrusion are acknowledged to improve solubility, and thus bioavailability, of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). However, these approaches require the use of specialized equipment and may increase development time and product costs. Drug delivery systems that target the lymphoid system, such as lipid-based formulations (liposomes and solid lipid nanoparticles) are used to avoid first-pass metabolism, but these have their own challenges of stability, reproducibility, and scale-up. There are several more straightforward formulation aspects to address the bioavailability problem. Read the whitepaper to learn more.
