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The colour of a product plays an important role in consumer experiences, and in the context of pharmaceutical products, this could potentially affect a patient's expectations, behaviours, and adherence. Several studies have been conducted on adults, but little is known about children's opinions on colours of medicines and to what extent medicines' colour affects their acceptability. To address this gap, a systematic search in PubMed, Scopus, MEDLINE, and Web of Science was conducted. Two authors independently screened the titles, abstracts, and references of all articles and selected studies conducted on children (0-18 years old), assessing children's preferences or opinions about colour of oral dosage forms as either a primary or secondary objective or as an anecdotal record. A total of 989 publications were identified and, after screening, 18 publications were included in the review. Red and pink were the most liked colours and there appeared to be a relationship between the colour of a medicine and expected taste/flavour. The review also highlighted a scarcity of information, usually collected as an anecdotal record. Several gaps in the current knowledge were underlined, emphasizing the need of patient-centred studies to understand if the use of certain colours can improve or worsen the acceptability of a paediatric medicine. This will help inform pharmaceutical manufacturers and regulators on the role and need of colours in children's medicines beyond quality purposes.

The aim of this study was to develop an age-appropriate tablet of mebendazole 500 mg to be used in large donation programs by the World Health Organization (WHO) for preventive chemotherapy of soil-transmitted helminth (STH) infections in pre-school and school-age children living in tropical and subtropical endemic areas. To that end, a new oral tablet formulation was developed that can be either chewed or given to young (≥1 year old) children by spoon after rapid disintegration to a soft mass with the addition of a small amount of water directly on the spoon. Although the tablet was manufactured using conventional fluid bed granulation, screening, blending, and compression processes, one of the main challenges was to combine properties of a chewable, dispersible, and regular (solid) immediate release tablet to meet the predefined requirements. The tablet disintegration time was below 120 s, allowing for administration by the "spoon method". The tablet hardness was higher (160-220 N) than normally applicable for chewable tablets, permitting shipment along a lengthy supply chain in a primary 200-tablet count bottle packaging. In addition, the resulting tablets are stable for 48 months in all climatic zones (I-IV). In this article, several aspects of the development of this unique tablet are described, including formulation, process development, stability, clinical acceptability testing, and regulatory filing., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: D.Sch. retired from Janssen and is an independent consultant, advising pharmaceutical companies, academic, and governmental organizations., (Copyright © 2023 Janssen Pharmaceutica NV. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Improved global access to novel age-appropriate formulations for paediatric subsets, either of new chemical entities or existing drugs, is a priority to ensure that medicines meet the needs of these patients. However, despite regulatory incentives, the introduction to the market of paediatric formulations still lags behind adult products. This is mainly caused by additional complexities associated with the development of acceptable age-appropriate paediatric medicines. This position paper recommends the use of a paediatric Quality Target Product Profile as an efficient tool to facilitate early planning and decision making across all teams involved in paediatric formulation development during the children-centric formulation design for new chemical entities, or to repurpose/reformulate off-patent drugs. Essential key attributes of a paediatric formulation are suggested and described. Moreover, greater collaboration between formulation experts and clinical colleagues, including healthcare professionals, is advocated to lead to safe and effective, age-appropriate medicinal products. Acceptability testing should be a secondary endpoint in paediatric clinical trials to ensure postmarketing adherence is not compromised by a lack of acceptability. Not knowing the indications and the related age groups and potential dosing regimens early enough is still a major hurdle for efficient paediatric formulation development; however, the proposed paediatric Quality Target Product Profile could be a valuable collaborative tool for planning and decision making to expedite paediatric product development, particularly for those with limited experience in developing a paediatric product., (© 2021 British Pharmacological Society.)

A workshop on "Pediatric Formulation Development: Challenges of Today and Strategies for Tomorrow" was organized jointly by the University of Maryland's Center of Excellence in Regulatory Science and Innovation (M-CERSI), the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the International Consortium for Innovation and Quality in Pharmaceutical Development (IQ) Drug Product Pediatric Working Group (PWG). This multi-disciplinary, pediatric focused workshop was held over a two-day period (18-19 Jun 2019) and consisted of participants from industry, regulatory agencies, academia and other organizations from both US and Europe. The workshop consisted of sequential sessions on formulation, analytical, clinical, and regulatory and industry lessons learned and future landscape. Each session began with a series of short framing presentations, followed by facilitated breakout sessions and panel discussion. The formulation session was dedicated to three main topics pertaining to drug product acceptability, excipients in pediatrics and oral administration device considerations. The analytical session discussed key considerations for dosing vehicle selection and analytical strategies for testing of different dosage forms, specifically mini-tablets (multiparticulates). The clinical session highlighted the influence of pediatric pharmacokinetics prediction on formulation design, pediatric drug development strategies and clinical considerations to support pediatric formulation design. The regulatory and industry lessons learned and future landscape session explored the regional differences that exist in regulatory expectations, requirements for pediatric formulation development, and key patient-centric factors to consider when developing novel pediatric formulations. This session also discussed potential collaboration opportunities and tools for pediatric formulation development. This manuscript summarizes the key discussions and outcomes of all the sessions in the workshop with a broadened review and discussion of the topics that were covered., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Purpose: The compatibility of doripenem diluted for infusion with 82 other drugs during simulated Y-site administration was studied., Methods: Five-milliliter samples of doripenem 5 mg/mL in 5% dextrose injection and separately in 0.9% sodium chloride injection were combined with 5 mL of 82 other drugs, undiluted or diluted in 5% dextrose injection or 0.9% sodium chloride injection. Visual examinations were performed with the unaided eye in fluorescent light and using a Tyndall beam to enhance visualization of small particles and low-level turbidity. The turbidity of each sample was measured, and particulate content was evaluated. Samples were inspected initially and one and four hours after preparation., Results: Of the drugs tested, doripenem 5 mg/mL in 5% dextrose injection and in 0.9% sodium chloride injection was incompatible with diazepam, potassium phosphates, and undiluted propofol. Doripenem 5 mg/mL in 0.9% sodium chloride injection but not in 5% dextrose injection was incompatible with amphotericin B-containing drugs due to the diluent. Doripenem was found to be compatible when combined with the other 75 drugs for at least four hours., Conclusion: Doripenem 5 mg/mL in 5% dextrose injection or in 0.9% sodium chloride injection was physically compatible for four hours at room temperature with 75 drugs during simulated Y-site administration. Three drugs combined with doripenem in 5% dextrose injection or 0.9% sodium chloride injection and 7 drugs combined with doripenem in 0.9% sodium chloride injection resulted in unacceptable precipitation or an increase in measured haze and should not be simultaneously administered with doripenem admixtures.

A novel process was designed for the large-scale isolation of bryostatin 1 from the bryozoan Bugula neritina L. in order to obtain multigram quantities of highly pure material for formulation studies, preclinical toxicology, and clinical trials in cancer patients. Multigram quantities of bryostatin 1 were obtained from a collection of approximately 10,000 gallons of wet animal. A phorbol dibutyrate (PDBu) receptor binding assay and hplc with photodiode array detection were used for the design, validation, and control of the isolation process.

The isolation and structural elucidation of a new Phyllanthus glycoside, phyllanthostatin 6 [7], was summarized. Phyllanthostatin 6 [7] was isolated from the roots of Phyllanthus acuminatus (Euphorbiaceae) and was found to inhibit (ED50 = 0.35 micrograms/ml) growth of the murine P-388 lymphocytic leukemia cell line. Two other new constituents were shown to be didesacetylphyllanthostatin 3 [9] and descinnamoylphyllanthocindiol [10]. Structure determinations were achieved employing hrfabms and 2D-nmr spectroscopy. Application of an hplc separation technique to the Phyllanthus glycosides and development of a new isolation procedure for the major antineoplastic constituent, phyllanthoside [1], are also described.

Lyngbya majuscula and Croton cuneatus were used as prototypes for the dereplication of phorbol ester receptor binding activity using a combination of hplc-uv and online phorbol dibutyrate (PDBu) receptor binding and batch fractionation over either Si gel or diolbonded Si gel. Debromoaplysiatoxin was responsible for the bioactivity of Lyngbya, whereas a complex of potent phorbol esters was detected in C. cuneatus.

An unusual cytostatic (PS ED50 4 micrograms/ml) lignan ester has been isolated from the Central American tree Phyllanthus acuminatus and designated phyllanthostatin A [1]. Separation of an MeOH extract of the root by size exclusion chromatography, high speed counter-current distribution, and semipreparative hplc afforded glycoside 1 in 0.007% yield. In solution, phyllanthostatin A was slowly transformed into justicidin B [4]. The structure of lignan glycoside 1 was determined by hrfabms and 2D-nmr spectroscopy.