International Journal of Pharmaceutics 364 (2008) 176–187 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect International Journal of Pharmaceutics journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijpharm Review Are pharmaceutics really going supercritical? Irene Pasquali, Ruggero Bettini ∗ Department of Pharmacy, University of Parma, 43100 Parma, Italy article info Article history: Received 12 March 2008 Received in revised form 13 May 2008 Accepted 13 May 2008 Available online 21 May 2008 Keywords: Supercritical fluids Micronization Coating Foaming Cyclodextrin Tissue engineering Extrusion Liposomes Sterilization Solvent removal abstract The present work focuses on some applications of supercritical fluids in the pharmaceutical field, provides a critical review of the most recent advances and aims to give a vision on the future of this technology. In particular, processes such as particle and crystal engineering, formation of cyclodextrin complexes, coat- ing, foaming and tissue engineering, extrusion, production of liposomes, formulation of biotechnological compounds, sterilization and solvent removal are described and discussed. © 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Contents 1. Introduction ......................................................................................................................................... 177 2. Supercritical fluids .................................................................................................................................. 177 3. Processing using supercritical fluids ................................................................................................................ 178 3.1. Operations where the SCF acts as a solvent ................................................................................................. 178 3.2. Operations where the SCF acts as antisolvent ............................................................................................... 178 3.3. Particles from gas-saturated solutions (PGSS, DELOS, CPCSP) .............................................................................. 179 3.4. CO 2 -assisted spray-drying (CAN-BD, SAA) .................................................................................................. 179 4. Particle and crystal engineering .................................................................................................................... 179 5. Cyclodextrins inclusion complexes ................................................................................................................. 180 6. Coating .............................................................................................................................................. 180 7. Foaming and tissue engineering .................................................................................................................... 182 8. Extrusion ............................................................................................................................................ 183 9. Liposomes preparation .............................................................................................................................. 183 10. Biotechnological compounds processing .......................................................................................................... 184 11. Sterilization ......................................................................................................................................... 184 12. Solvent removal .................................................................................................................................... 185 13. Conclusions ........................................................................................................................................ 185 References ........................................................................................................................................... 185 ∗ Corresponding author at: Department of Pharmacy, University of Parma, Viale G.P. Usberti 27/A, 43100 Parma, Italy. Tel.: +39 0521 905089; fax: +39 0521 905006. E-mail address: bettini@unipr.it (R. Bettini). 0378-5173/$ – see front matter © 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.ijpharm.2008.05.014