Benefits of cocrystallisation in pharmaceutical materials science: an update

Abstract

Abstract Objectives We provide a brief overview of recent applications of cocrystals for improving the physico-chemical and materials properties of active pharmaceutical ingredients, including solubility, humidity and thermal stability, dissolution rates and compressibility for tablet formation. Key findings This overview illustrates the pharmaceutical applications of cocrystals, with a selection of recent examples and also attempts to foresee future developments by proposing several directions not yet explored in the area of pharmaceutical cocrystallisation. Summary Reliable strategies for the synthesis and design of pharmaceutical cocrystals have now been established, and the potential of cocrystallisation for enhancing the solid-state properties of drugs is well recognised; the field is now moving towards the understanding of cocrystal structure–property relationships, for which systematic structural studies and computational approaches will play a key role.