Evaluation of a Modified Flow-Through Method for Predictive Dissolution and In Vitro/In Vivo Correlations of Immediate Release and Extended Release Formulations

The present study evaluated the ability of a modified flow-through method for predicting in vivo performance of immediate release (IR) and extended release (ER) formulations. In vitro dissolution of two model drugs, paracetamol IR tablets and felodipine ER tablets, was investigated under tuned conditions using the modified flow-through method and compared with the compendial quality control (QC) basket method. The in vivo absorption properties of paracetamol IR tablets and felodipine ER tablets were investigated in healthy volunteers. In vitro-in vivo correlation (IVIVC) analysis was performed based on the obtained in vitro and in vivo data. Our results demonstrated that the compendial QC method was not able to reflect in vivo actual absorption, while satisfactory discriminatory power and comparable in vitro dissolution/in vivo absorption were achieved for both paracetamol IR tablets and felodipine ER tablets by the modified flow-through method. This study indicated that the modified flow-through method is a potential tool to reflect in vivo performance of the IR and ER formulations.