Compatibility studies between ibuprofen or ketoprofen with cellulose ether polymer mixtures using thermal analysis

Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) was used to investigate and detect incompatibilities between drugs such as: ibuprofen (IBU) or ketoprofen (KETO) with cellulose ether derivatives, which are frequently applied on controlled release dosage forms. Binary mixtures concerning methylcellulose (MC25) or hydroxypropylcellulose (HPC) with hydroxypropylmethylcellulose (HPMC) K15M or K100M in different ratios were prepared and evaluated by the appearance, shift, or disappearance of peaks and/or variations in the corresponding ΔH values. According to the DSC results, binary mixtures between those polymers were found to be compatible, but their mixture with IBU or KETO, promotes a solid-solid interaction mainly with 1:1:1 (w/w) ratio (drug-excipient). However, when the drug:excipient interactions were detected, they were not found to affect the drug bioavailability. DSC was successfully employed to evaluate the compatibility of the drugs with the selected polymers.