A Comprehensive Review on Co-Crystals: Transforming Drug Delivery with Enhanced Solubility and Bioavailability

Abstract

Poor solubility and bioavailability of various drug compounds are the biggest challenges faced by researchers and industrialists, hindering their therapeutic efficacy. Researchers have developed a versatile approach to enhance the solubility and bioavailability of the drug i.e., co-crystallization. Pharmaceutical co-crystals are solid, crystalline materials consisting of API and co-formers that have supramolecular chemistry with one another. Co-crystallization helps in enhancing a drug’s physico-chemical properties, such as bioavailability, solubility and dissolution, preserving its therapeutic effect. The API and co-former in co-crystals are bound to each other via hydrogen bonding, π-stacking, and Van der Waals forces. Several methods to prepare co-crystals, such as solvent evaporation method, grinding method, cooling crystallization method, etc, and various research reports, including all the methods of preparation are discussed in this review article. Conventional marketed products and patents on co-crystals are also included. Data has been gathered, and relevant literature reports have been examined utilizing a variety of search engines, including Google Scholar, ScienceDirect, Pubmed, and Google patents. After reviewing the literature, the researchers found that the cocrystallization method is one the simplest method to enhance drug bioavailability and solubility. Moreover, it enhances the pharmacokinetics parameters, pharmacodynamics properties, and melting point of the drug. In this review article, the researchers have compiled the recent literature reports on enhanced drug solubility via co-crystallization method. The researchers concluded that this review article can help other researchers by providing them with recent literature on this article and can compare the various methods of enhancing drug solubility and bioavailability. It also consists of compiled data of patents and marketed formulations prepared by the co-crystallization technique. Thus, co-crystallization could be established as a versatile approach for enhancing drug solubility and bioavailability.