ABSTRACT
A challenge for the pharmaceutical formulation development is the increasing number of drugs being poorly soluble. Drug nanocrystals can be produced by the so-called“bottom up” or by “top down” technologies. Regarding intravenous administration of drug nanocrystals; the small size of the nanocrystals, typically between 200 and 600 nm, allows intravenous injection because they can pass even the smallest blood capillaries. Injectable drug nanocrystal suspensions represent a very smart formulation approach to avoid excipients with toxic side effects. The chapter reviews the first generation of drug nanocrystals, focuses on problems in production and application of these nanocrystals, and describes the features of the second drug nanocrystal generation for overcoming or at least for minimizing these problems. If the nanocrystals are dispersed in a liquid, the dispersion is called “nanosuspension”. The special features of the drug nanocrystals/drug nanosuspensions allow an improved delivery of poorly soluble drugs via the oral and the intravenous administration route.
