ABSTRACT
Drug delivery systems that overcome drug stability problems inherent in conventional dosage forms warrant attention. The drug would be delivered intravenously in the solution phase by controlling its dissolution kinetics as a large-volume parenteral solution flows through the system via an administration set. This chapter reviews the factors which influence the kinetics of solute release using a quantitative, physical-model approach. It describes the diffusion and partition coefficients of solutes, how these coefficients are measured/computed, and the role they play in defining solute release kinetics. The chapter also describes the effect of viscosity and concentration on diffusion, and discusses membrane and matrix parameters important to drug release as well as polymeric drug solubility considerations. It describes the particularly important effect in flow-through intravenous drug delivery systems in which the drug is delivered via an administration set. The chapter considers the approaches for designing and/or optimizing drug delivery systems based on pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic requirements.
