A long-lasting oral preformulation of the angiotensin II AT1 receptor antagonist losartan.

Losartan (Los), a non-peptidic orally active agent, reduces arterial pressure through specific and selective blockade of angiotensin II receptor AT1. However, this widely used AT1 antagonist presents low bioavailability and needs once or twice a day dosage. In order to improve its bioavailability, we used the host: guest strategy based on β-cyclodextrin (βCD).

Supramolecular interactions between losartan and hydroxypropyl-β-CD: ESI mass-spectrometry, NMR techniques, phase solubility, isothermal titration calorimetry and anti-hypertensive studies.

In this work, low soluble supramolecular complex between the losartan potassium (Los) and hydroxypropil-β-cyclodextrin (HPβCD) were characterized throughout phase-solubility, NMR techniques ((1)H and 2D-ROESY) and isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) in order to attain physical-chemical knowledge of the system. In addition, the hypertensive effect of composition Los/HPβCD was evaluated aiming to obtain a more efficient oral pharmaceutical composition. ESI mass spectrometry and ITC blank experiment demonstrate the presence of Los clusters at 30 mM pure solution.