Emerging Trends in Bioequivalence Research

A special issue of Pharmaceutics (ISSN 1999-4923). This special issue belongs to the section "Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 May 2025 | Viewed by 1404

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Clinical Research Unit, Medical Department, Adium S.A., São Paulo 04794-000, Brazil
Interests: bioequivalence; pharmacokinetics; bioavailability; drug product development; IVIVC; biopharmaceutics; PBBM; biowaiver

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Guest Editor
College of Pharmacy and Research Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 41566, Republic of Korea
Interests: pharmacokinetic drug–drug interaction; pharmacokinetic herb–drug interaction; drug-metabolizing enzymes and transporters; pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamics in drug development; oral bioavailability
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Guest Editor
College of Pharmacy, Ajou University, Suwon 16499, Korea
Interests: controlled bioavailability of poorly soluble and poorly absorbable drugs; solubilization, formulation, and development of patient-centric dosage forms; advanced nano-based delivery systems using fattigation (fatty acid conjugation) and click chemistry
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Bioequivalence (BE) assessment is a crucial way to establish therapeutic equivalence for generic drug products and their respective comparator products. In addition, bioavailability comparison may sometimes also be required for supporting regulatory approval of incremental innovation, such as new dosage forms, fixed-dose combinations, and other approaches. Furthermore, BE studies are used by innovator and generic product developers to support post-approval formulation and/or manufacturing process changes. Two drug products containing the same drug substance(s) are considered bioequivalent if their rate and extent of drug absorption, after administration in the same molar dose, lie within acceptable predefined limits. These limits are set to ensure comparable in vivo performance, i.e., similarity in terms of safety and efficacy.

Current regional or multi-regional guidelines have different views and criteria regarding the design of BE studies and data analysis. The new ICH (International Conference on Harmonisation) M13 initiative is looking to harmonise BE requirements for immediate release solid oral dosage forms, which could facilitate the use of the same data and information to meet multiple jurisdictions’ regulatory requirements and ensures the application of consistent standards for demonstrating BE. Moreover, harmonisation may streamline drug development and make it more cost effective, by potentially reducing the number of duplicative BE studies that are required to meet the standards for more than one jurisdiction and lead to a reduced number of human subjects that are required for these studies.

We are pleased to invite all researchers to submit their findings and recent advances on BE assessment. In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Topics of interest may include, but are not limited to, BE studies for generics (mainly complex generics, such as inhalers, injectables, ophthalmic solutions and suspensions, and transdermal patches) and incremental innovation (e.g., new dosage forms, fixed-dose combination, etc.), advanced BE study design considerations, data analysis and BE assessment for highly variable drugs and drugs with a narrow therapeutic index, truncated or partial AUC considerations, advances in bioanalysis for endogenous compounds and ligand-binding assays (LBAs), biowaiver approaches based on BCS, and biopredictive dissolution conditions and PBBM/IVIVC models for predicting BE study results.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Marcelo Gomes Davanço
Prof. Dr. Im-Sook Song
Prof. Dr. Beom-Jin Lee
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • bioequivalence
  • bioavailability
  • pharmacokinetics
  • ICH M13
  • complex generics
  • biowaiver based on BCS
  • bioanalysis
  • biopredictive dissolution conditions
  • PBBM
  • IVIVC

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

13 pages, 1263 KiB  
Article
Buprenorphine Transdermal Delivery System: Bioequivalence Assessment and Adhesion Performance of Two Patch Formulations
by Marcelo Gomes Davanço, Miguel Fortuny, Alejandro Scasso, Jessica Meulman, Fernando Costa, Thalita Martins da Silva, Débora Renz Barreto Vianna, Leonardo de Souza Teixeira, Karini Bruno Bellorio, Ana Carolina Costa Sampaio and Celso Francisco Pimentel Vespasiano
Pharmaceutics 2024, 16(10), 1249; https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmaceutics16101249 - 26 Sep 2024
Viewed by 807
Abstract
Background and Objective: Buprenorphine is an opioid drug indicated for the management of severe and persistent pain. The buprenorphine transdermal patch provides a non-invasive method of rate-controlled drug release, ensuring constant and predictable drug plasma levels over an extended period. This study aimed [...] Read more.
Background and Objective: Buprenorphine is an opioid drug indicated for the management of severe and persistent pain. The buprenorphine transdermal patch provides a non-invasive method of rate-controlled drug release, ensuring constant and predictable drug plasma levels over an extended period. This study aimed to assess the bioequivalence, skin adhesion non-inferiority, and tolerability of two buprenorphine transdermal patches to meet the regulatory requirements for the registration of a generic product in Brazil. Methods: A randomized, single-dose, two-period, two-sequence crossover trial was performed involving healthy subjects of both genders. The subjects received a single dose of either the test formulation or the reference formulation (Restiva®), separated by a 29-day washout period. For pharmacokinetic analysis, blood samples were collected up to 12 days post-dose and quantified using a validated bioanalytical method. Skin adhesion was assessed over a 7-day period (dosing interval) following patch application. Seventy-six subjects were enrolled and fifty-two completed the study. Results and Conclusion: The 90% confidence intervals for Cmax, AUC0–t, and partial AUCs were within the acceptable bioequivalence limits of 80 to 125%. Adhesion comparison showed the non-inferiority of the test formulation. Based on ANVISA’s regulatory requirements, the test and reference formulations were considered bioequivalent and could be interchangeable in clinical practice. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Emerging Trends in Bioequivalence Research)
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