Drug–Drug Multicomponent Crystals as an Effective Technique to Overcome Weaknesses in Parent Drugs

Abstract

An interesting multicomponent crystal consisting of drug–drug combination was synthesized. The multidrug crystals consisted of antidiabetic drugs glicalzide and metformin. Single crystal X-ray structure analysis revealed that this multicomponent crystal is salt-type multicomponent crystal. The physicochemical properties of this crystal were significantly different from those of the parent drugs. The multicomponent crystal showed impressive solubility and dissolution rate compared to that of the raw material of gliclazide. Also, the hygroscopicity issue in metformin was tackled by the formation of multicomponent crystal. These physicochemical property alterations were associated with the existence of hydrophilic channel structure, which was confirmed by microscopic analysis. Therefore, the weaknesses of each component were mutually solved.