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The pharmacokinetics of florfenicol, a structural analogue of thiamphenicol, were studied in six pigs after single oral and intramuscular doses of 15 mg/kg bodyweight, and after feeding them with medicated feed containing 250 mg/kg for three days, a concentration which provided approximately the same dose rate of the drug. The oral doses contained a specially prepared pelleted formulation of the drug. The bioavailability of the drug was similar for the oral and intramuscular doses. Florfenicol was absorbed rapidly from the feed and its concentration in plasma remained between 2 and 6 microg/ml - above the minimum inhibitory concentration values for common pig pathogens - during the three days.

Objectives Co-extrusion implies the simultaneous hot-melt extrusion of two or more materials through the same die, creating a multi-layered extrudate. It is an innovative continuous production technology that offers numerous advantages over traditional pharmaceutical processing techniques. This review provides an overview of the co-extrusion equipment, material requirements and medical and pharmaceutical applications. Key findings The co-extrusion equipment needed for pharmaceutical production has been summarized. Because the geometrical design of the die dictates the shape of the final product, different die types have been discussed. As one of the major challenges at the moment is shaping the final product in a continuous way, an overview of downstream solutions for processing co-extrudates into drug products is provided. Layer adhesion, extrusion temperature and viscosity matching are pointed out as most important requirements for material selection. Examples of medical and pharmaceutical applications are presented and some recent findings considering the production of oral drug delivery systems have been summarized. Summary Co-extrusion provides great potential for the continuous production of fixed-dose combination products which are gaining importance in pharmaceutical industry. There are still some barriers to the implementation of co-extrusion in the pharmaceutical industry. The optimization of downstream processing remains a point of attention.

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