Authors:

Lana Malek

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About Paper:

Yearly, thousands of fatalities occur due to drug overdose, more than two-thirds of which are caused by synthetic opioids such as fentanyl and heroin. Naloxone, the only existing FDA-approved treatment for opioid overdose, has a much smaller therapeutic window than the duration of time fentanyl is at toxic levels in the body. Therefore, multiple consecutive applications of naloxone are often necessary to effectively prevent a fentanyl overdose, which can lead to harmful side effects, such as pulmonary edema and tachycardia. The aim of this research was to develop a sustained-release respiratory naloxone formulation with a longer therapeutic window than the existing commercial formulation using Flash NanoPrecipitation (FNP). FNP produces nanocarriers through the rapid mixing of an organic solution containing hydrophobic materials with an antisolvent, such as water, to create supersaturation conditions that lead to the precipitation and encapsulation of the materials. Naloxone is not hydrophobic enough to precipitate in water on its own; thus, a method of hydrophobic ion pairing (HIP) was used to increase its hydrophobicity. HIP is the preferred method of increasing an active ingredient's hydrophobicity, as the paired complex is not considered a new molecular entity and therefore does not require additional FDA approval. The initial characterization of the formulations includes measuring the size and zeta potential using dynamic light scattering (DLS). Then, the colloidal stability and encapsulation efficiency (EE) of the best formulations were determined. Finally, the best formulations will be tested in vitro to determine their release patterns. Keywords: [no keywords provided]

Source:

Purdue University / 2025

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Co-authors:

Lana Malek