Evaluation of supercritical fluid engineered budesonide powder for respiratory delivery using nebulisers

Objectives Currently, suspensions prepared from micronised drug substances are the only delivery system marketed for nebulisation of steroids, and reported inconsistent or low bioavailability arising from their use provides a rationale for researching alternative formulations. Supercritical fluid processing of drug substances to obtain respirable‐sized particles has been used over the last decade to formulate dry powder inhalers. We aimed thus to process budesonide powder to improve its deposition characteristics. Methods In an attempt to overcome the limitations of nebuliser suspensions when prepared from micronised drug particles, budesonide powder was processed using a supercritical fluid based process and suspended using Tween 80 as a surfactant to provide an aqueous nebuliser formulation. The in‐vitro characteristics of the emitted dose on nebulisation for the prepared suspension were then compared to a commercially available suspension formulation of budesonide using a jet and a vibrating mesh nebuliser. Key findings The results showed a significant improvement of the in‐vitro deposition properties of the suspension containing supercritical fluid engineered budesonide particles. Conclusions The results indicated the benefit of such materials compared with traditionally micronised drug powders.