Pharmaceutical Excipients: Properties, Functionality, and Applications in Research and Industry

Considered essential to pharmaceutical drug product development, excipients are substances other than the active drug or prodrug included in the manufacturing process or contained in a finished pharmaceutical dosage form. There are many types of excipients, but there are several requirements (like being chemically stable) that make the selection process challenging. Having a good foundation in the field of excipients and understanding their properties and effects is crucial for dosage formulation.

Pharmaceutical Excipients: Properties, Functionality, and Applications in Research and Industry provides a broad overview of excipients, their functionalities in pharmaceutical dosage forms, and how their selection can influence pharmaceutical products manufacture. Ten detailed chapters describe the applications and research in the field, featuring case studies to enhance the discussions.

Including up–to–date advancements of excipients used for pharmaceutical development; this valuable resource for scientists, researchers, and chemical engineers compiles ten detailed chapters that encompass the overview, applications, and most current research. Pharmaceutical Excipients offers key benefits that include:

    Coverage of the sources, characterization, and harmonization of excipients: essential information for optimal pharmaceutical development
    Description of the physico–chemical properties and biological effects of excipients
    Discussion of chemical classes, safety and toxicity, and formulation
    Explanation of recent efforts in the standardization and harmonization of excipients

Otilia Koo, PhD, is a Senior Research Investigator of Biopharmaceutics R&D at Bristol–Myers Squibb Company. She is actively involved with the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists, having been a committee member (and chair from 2008–2009) of the Excipients Focus Group since 2006. Dr. Koo is an adjunct professor at the Department of Biopharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She has authored about 20 research papers and presentations in the field of excipients characterization and role of excipients behavior and is the inventor of four patents.