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Incorporating sodium deoxycholate endorsed the buccal administration of avanafil to heighten the bioavailability and duration of action

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Abstract

The highly effective phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitor (avanafil; AVA) is routinely prescribed to treat erectile dysfunction. The drug has poor oral bioavailability and undergoes a significant first-pass metabolism. Therefore, altering AVA’s solubility and choosing a different delivery method may boost its effectiveness. Nine different solid dispersion formulations utilizing polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) at three different ratios were prepared and characterized. The Box-Behnken design was employed to optimize AVA–buccal tablets. The pre-compression and post-compression characteristics of the tablets were assessed. The mucoadhesion strength of the optimized tablet was investigated using cow buccal mucosal tissue. In vivo performance of the optimized tablets was examined on human volunteers compared to the commercial tablets. PVP K90 at 2:1 drug to polymer ratio showed the highest solubilization capacity. The mucoadhesive polymer type and percentage and the mucopenetration enhancer percentage were significantly affect the mucoadhesion strength, tablet hardness, and the initial and cumulative AVA released from the prepared tablets. The optimized AVA–buccal tablet showed 4.96 folds increase in the mean residence time, higher plasma exposure, and an improvement in the relative bioavailability of AVA by 1076.27% compared with the commercial tablet. Therefore, a successful approach to deal with AVA first-pass metabolism and low bioavailability could be to employ buccal tablets containing a solubility-enhanced form of AVA.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge with thanks the Deanship of Scientific Research at King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, for technical and financial support.

Funding

This project was funded by the Deanship of Scientific Research at King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, under grant no. (RG-22–166-42).

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Contributions

Khalid M. El-Say: conceptualization, validation, formal analysis, resources, writing—review & editing, supervision, project administration; Omar D. Al-Hejaili: methodology, formal analysis, investigation, writing—original draft; Hossam S. El-Sawy: methodology, validation, formal analysis, investigation, writing—original draft, writing—review & editing, visualization; Nabil A. Alhakamy: formal analysis, writing—review & editing; Fathy I. Abd-Allah: validation, formal analysis, resources, writing—review & editing; Martin K. Safo: Formal analysis, Writing—Review & Editing; Tarek A. Ahmed: Conceptualization, Validation, formal analysis, resources, writing—review & editing, supervision.

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Correspondence to Khalid M. El-Say.

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The in vivo investigation was conducted on healthy human volunteers at the International Centre for Bioavailability, Pharmaceutical, and Clinical Research (ICBR), Cairo, Egypt. The purpose, design, conduct, and analysis of the planned study were formally reviewed by the Institutional Review Board/Independent Ethics Committee (IRB/IEC) at ICBR. On July 18, 2019, the committee gave the study procedure its Ethical Approval Code (RESH-007). The Declaration of Helsinki and the International Conference on Harmonization (ICH) of Good Clinical Practices (GCP) were followed in conducting the study. European Medicines Agency (EMA), and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations were followed during the study’s execution.

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El-Say, K.M., Al-hejaili, O.D., El-Sawy, H.S. et al. Incorporating sodium deoxycholate endorsed the buccal administration of avanafil to heighten the bioavailability and duration of action. Drug Deliv. and Transl. Res. 13, 2297–2314 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13346-023-01314-x

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