*120164*

N. Zayarnyuk1, O. Fedorova1, B. Sobetov1, A. Komar2,

G. Zagoriy2, M. Ponomarenko3, V. Novikov1

1 Department of Technology of Biologically Active Substances, Pharmacy and Biotechnology, National University "Lviv Polytechnic", 79013, Ukraine, Lviv,
Bandera Str., 12; e-mail: vnovikov@polynet.lviv.ua

2 PJSC “Pharmaceutical company” Darnitsa”, 02093, Ukraine, Kyiv, Borispilska Str., 13

3P.L. Shupyk National Medical Academy of Post-Graduate Education, 04112, Ukraine, Kyiv, Dorogozhytska Str., 9

 

Development of new injection prolong of disulfiram with biodegradable polymers

 

The prevention of recurrence of drug dependence, especially in the early stages of treatment, is the topical task of its therapy.Alpha The lack of motivation of patients for the long-term use of fixed dose of the drug is a major problem in this period. The drug with prolonged action can improve the adherence to the therapeutic regimen. One of the ways of the improvement of the drugs is the creation of combined drugs, containing the complex medicinal substances (MS) and capable of influencing different components of the pathogenesis of the disease and realize the therapeutic effect covering all patient groups. The use of a combination of several drugs allows reducing total doses and the side effects of the treatment. The use of naltrexone and disulfiram is widespread in long-term therapeutic programs in combination with psychopharmacological, psychotherapeutic and rehabilitative methods. These drugs are licensed in most European countries, Canada, USA, India and Australia. The studies in the last decade have shown the effectiveness of the combined use of both naltrexone and disulfiram in the treatment of alcohol and drug dependencies. The use of combined injecting drug based on disulfiram and naltrexone for treatment of patients with alcohol and opioid dependence will provide the necessary dose for a long time.

We studied the physico-chemical properties of disulfiram and naltrexone, based on which the rational pharmaceutical form and adjuvants was chosen: solvent - dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and biodegradable polymers (BP) - polyvinyl alcohol with the molecular weight of 30000 and polyvinylpyrrolidone with the molecular weight of 10000. DMSO is allowed in medical practice being excellent solvent and a carrier for the transfer of drugs into the body, providing fast and higher concentration of disulfiram in biological media which is necessary to achieve a therapeutic effect. Anti-alcohol activity of the solvent is also known, and its therapeutic effect on patients with opioid addiction was recently discovered.

Based on the study of the dynamics of the naltrexone release from the prolonged form by dialysis, it was determined that the predicted effect of the prolonged action drug (PAD) makes 30 days.

The biocompatibility of drug adjuvants was tested. Ovules and embryos of loach (Misgurnus fossilis L.) during early embryogenesis, prepared and fertilized by the Neifach method, were used as a biological model. The results have shown that the number of hatched larvae in the studied solutions with DMSO has increased when adding BP. Thus, the pathological effect of the joint application of DMSO and BP was missing.

The component compatibility has been confirmed by differential thermal analysis, which showed no adverse interactions between the components of the drug.

The shape and size of the particles in the developed drug was identified by scanning electron microscopy. Sediment in the form of individual spherical particles ranging in size from 100 nm to 1 μm with uniform size distribution, thus providing the prolonged effects of drugs, was observed in micrographs.

Based on the studies the PAD composition was determined and the technology of the production of new PAD "Naltetlong" was developed and tested in the industrial conditions. The main quality indicators were determined; the methods of identification and quantitative determination of active substances were developed. The PAD composition and technology were protected by the patents of Ukraine.

Based on the PAD stability studies the storage mode was selected – 5-15ºC. The preservation of the structure of components of drugs in the selected temperature range was confirmed by high performance liquid chromatography, infrared spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance and differential thermal analysis. 

The pharmacological studies on male and female rats of Wistar line and white mice with Balb/c line have shown that the expressed anti-narcotic activity of "Naltetlong" has similar effect to the reference drug naltrexone, while the anti-alcohol activity exceeded the activity of the reference drug disulfiram, LD50 of the drug makes 58.0 mg/kg which corresponds to toxicity class III. Based on the conclusion of pre-clinical studies at the State University "Institute of Neurology, Psychiatry and Addiction" (Kharkiv, Ukraine), together with the Ukrainian Association for Alcohol and Drug Abuse (Lviv, Ukraine), the clinical trials of an experimental batch drugs were started and have shown the prospects of the “Naltetlong” use as a means of anti-recurrence therapy in patients with opioid addiction and chronic alcoholism.

The introduction of this development into clinical practice will make it possible to refuse the oral administration of disulfiram and naltrexone, and will provide persistence of long-term treatment effect.