The natural bile acid surfactant sodium taurocholate (NaTC) as a coformer in coamorphous systems: Enhanced physical stability and dissolution behavior of coamorphous drug-NaTc systems

The amorphization of 18 different drugs on milling with one mole equivalent sodium taurocholate (NaTC) was investigated. In all cases the X-ray powder pattern showed an amorphous halo after milling at room temperature or after cryomilling and 14 of the 18 coamorphous drug-NaTC systems were physically stable for between one to eleven months under ambient storage conditions. In three cases, namely carbamazepine-NaTC, indomethacin-NaTC and mefenamic acid-NaTC, significant dissolution advantages over the crystalline drugs were observed, both for the freshly prepared samples and after storage for seven months. To understand the increased physical stability, infrared-, near-infrared and Raman spectroscopic studies were carried out. The effectiveness of NaTC as a coformer in a diverse range of coamorphous systems is attributed to its awkward molecular shape that hampers recrystallization and phase separation and its propensity to form a range of similar, yet different drug-coformer hydrogen bonding arrangements.