Docusate – A Highly Effective Pharmaceutical Excipient

Docusate sodium has been used as a pharmaceutical grade excipient as it has proven effective in various formulations, such as a dispersing agent for tablet manufacture, liquid or gel suspensions, effervescing tablets and as an emulsifier for creams and gels. Docusate sodium gives a low order of toxicity and is stable and compatible with a wide range of pharmacologically active drugs.

Docusate sodium is also as a powerful solubilizing agent, helping the formulation of poorly soluble active ingredients (APIs). Many new APIs (reported to be 40-70%) have a poor aqueous solubility leading to reduced bioavailability. Reduced bioavailability has an efficacy and financial consequence, as patients are not receiving the benefits of the medication and companies are not able to take full advantage of expensive APIs. There is also an unforeseen impact on the environment as trace quantities of these APIs might find their way into the water table.

Functioning as a solubilizing aid for poorly soluble APIs in techniques such as wet granulation and Hot Melt Extrusion (HME), Docusate can improve the efficacy of your end product. Learn more here.

Docusate sodium can be used to overcome this bioavailability issue by improving solubility using a variety of manufacturing techniques such as wet granulating, nano milling and hot melt extrusion (HME). Cytec can provide formulation examples of these various techniques with BCS Class 2 and 4.