Evaluation of amorphous dispersion of a cellulose ester-colophony mix for ibuprofen controlled release processed by HME and spin coating

•Spin coating and hot melt extrusion for processing films of cellaburate/colophony.•Amorphous solid dispersion of ibuprofen at high loading was successfully generated.•Fabricated films achieved tunable drug release of immediate or controlled patterns.•Thickness of the film dictates the rate of drug release and its physical stability.•Cellaburate/colophony platform has a potential towards buccal films development. Recently, there has been a rapid growth of using bio-based materials in pharmaceutical applications, due to their low cost and availability. In this study, natural composition of cellaburate (cellulose-ester) and colophony (pine-resin) was used to prepare films to control ibuprofen release from its amorphous solid dispersion. The effect of two preparation technologies of spin-coating and hot-melt-extrusion was studied on the physicochemical properties and in vitro dissolution/release behavior. Physical stability was evaluated for 12 w at 54 %RH/22 °C. Characterization involved using PLM/DSC/MTDSC/ATRFTIR/TGA/SEM and PXRD. Ibuprofen was amorphously-dispersed at 30 %(w/w) in 35:65 colophony:cellaburate films. Spin-films were more physically stable over 12 w; however, controlled release of ibuprofen was achieved mainly from hot-melt-extruded-films for 5 h. Both films have shown first-order release kinetics; whereby polymeric swelling and relaxation likely governed the release. The successful preparation of cellaburate-colophony platform that has achieved tunable release profiles of poorly water-soluble drug holds the potential for further drug delivery development.