Comparison with other manufacturing processes
Solvent evaporation
- Process uses Class II solvents which are not compatible with proteins
- Produces spheres of different size and encapsulation efficiency
Spray drying
- Non-sterile
- Uses DCM and high temperature (denature proteins)
- Only low molecular weight PLGA can be used – microspheres prone to collapse
Super Critical Fluids
- Known to produce low density/high porosity spheres
- Critically this technique does not produce spheres
- High residual solvents and temperatures have been shown to denature proteins
