Continuous in-line homogenization process for scale-up production of naltrexone-loaded PLGA microparticles.

Injectable, long-acting drug delivery systems provide effective drug concentrations in the blood for up to 6 months. Naltrexone-loaded poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) microparticles were prepared using an in-line homogenization method. It allows the transition from a laboratory scale to scale-up production. This research was designed to understand how the processing parameters affect the properties of the microparticles, such as microparticle size distributions, surface and internal morphologies, drug loadings, and drug release kinetics, and thus, to control them.