Investigation of process temperature and screw speed on properties of a pharmaceutical solid dispersion using corotating and counter-rotating twin-screw extruders

Objective The use of corotating twin screw hot‐melt extruders to prepare amorphous drug/polymer systems has become commonplace. As small molecule drug candidates exiting discovery pipelines trend towards higher MW and become more structurally complicated, the acceptable operating space shifts below the drug melting point. The objective of this research is to investigate the extrusion process space, which should be selected to ensure that the drug is solubilized in the polymer with minimal thermal exposure, is critical in ensuring the performance, stability and purity of the solid dispersion. Methods The properties of a model solid dispersion were investigated using both corotating and counter‐rotating hot‐melt twin‐screw extruders operated at various temperatures and screw speeds. The solid state and dissolution performance of the resulting solid dispersions was investigated and evaluated in context of thermodynamic predictions from Flory–Huggins Theory. In addition, the residence time distributions were measured using a tracer, modelled and characterized. Key findings The amorphous content in the resulting solid dispersions was dependent on the combination of screw speed, temperature and operating mode. Conclusions The counter‐rotating extruder was observed to form amorphous solid dispersions at a slightly lower temperature and with a narrower residence time distribution, which also exhibited a more desirable shape.