ABSTRACT

Of late, the poorly water-soluble drugs have been posing a formidable challenge in pharmaceutical development, invariably owing to their compromised bioavailability. Nanocrystals, in this regard, have been proposed as a promising strategy to enhance dissolution of such drug candidates. Reduction of particle size of such drugs to the nanosized range dramatically changes their physicochemical characteristics. Techniques like top-down, bottom-up or blends of these are frequently employed for production of drug nanocrystals. Nanocrystals are composed of a core, usually of pure drug, and a layer, usually of a surfactant. Advantages of using nanocrystals over other nanoparticles include their simple structure, ease of their production, and their suitability for a variety of routes of administration. On the other hand, the biggest disadvantage of nanocrystals is their inherent instability, as these are associated with the risk of crystal growth, a process termed “Ostwald Ripening”. Thus, the choice of an appropriate stabilizer is critical to obtain physicochemically stable nanocrystals. Besides the salient merits and pitfalls of nanocrystals as novel nanotechnology-based system(s) for poorly water-soluble drugs, the current book chapter elaborates upon the classical methods of their production along with various techniques for differentiated nanocrystal coatings.