Film-injection as a dosage form for etomidate: Enhancing the stability of nanomedicines using solid intermediate products

Abstract The colloidal stability problem is one of the major obstacles for bench-to-bedside translation of many nanomedicines. Herein, we developed a new strategy that adopted a novel dosage form called “film-injection”. Etomidate, a first-line general anesthetic, was used as the model drug for the introduction of this dosage form. The film-injection for etomidate (Eto-PF film-injection) was a thin mixture film consisting of loading materials and etomidate. Eto-PF film-injection is a solid intermediate product of nanomedicine. It can be stored at room temperature and be well hydrated in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) to produce injectable suspension of etomidate-loaded nanomicelle (Eto-PF NM). Eto-PF NM produced from the Eto-PF film-injection that went through temperature changes or long-term storage maintained the essential physicochemical properties as well as in vivo drug efficacy of the nanomedicine. Additionally, this dosage form may also realize convenient transport of products, better adjustment of the drug concentration, and easy scale-up for the pharmaceutical market. For this reason, film-injection qualifies as a promising dosage form for etomidate nano-preparation and also other nanoformulation-based preparations, with the great potential to promote the translation of nanomedicines from lab studies into clinical applications.