Production and characterisation of mucoadhesive nanosuspensions for the formulation of bupravaquone

Bupravaquone is a new naphthoquinone antibiotic against Cryptosporidium parvum and other parasites. It has attracted interest for the treatment of C. parvum infections, because of the lack of a drug in the treatment of mostly AIDS patients. The bioavailability of bupravaquone is limited when given orally. To overcome the problem of the high elimination rate caused by diarrhoea, typical for C. parvum infections, bupravaquone was formulated as a mucoadhesive nanosuspension, i.e. combining the properties of mucoadhesive drug delivery systems, in this case hydro gels, with nanosuspensions. In this study different polymers/hydro gels were employed to create a prolonged retention time for the drug in the infected gastrointestinal tract (GIT). The second step to improve the bioavailability of bupravaquone was the formulation as nanosuspension. Therefore various concentrations of bupravaquone with different surfactants were tested. The production of these nanosuspensions was carried out by high pressure homogenisation. In addition to the classical stepwise production, about a new one step production method is described.