Simulations Plus, Inc. (NASDAQ: SLP – News), a leading provider of simulation and modeling software to the pharmaceutical industry, announces the release of DDDPlus 3.0, a major update to its unique software that simulates in vitro dissolution experiments to assist pharmaceutical formulation scientists in the design of new dosage forms and new experimental conditions.
Dr. John Chung, product manager for DDDPlus and a member of the Simulation Technologies team at Simulations Plus, said: “This new version of DDDPlus is the result of many months of work to produce a major redesign of the underlying architecture and user interface of the program, to add to the simulation accuracy of certain aspects of the program, as well as add a number of new capabilities requested by our users in the U.S., Europe, and Japan. Enhancements to this new version include a new solubility-vs-pH model that more accurately calculates the solubilities of both the active drug and the excipients in a dosage form as the pH of the dissolution medium (the fluid in the experiment container) is changed. We have also made the user interface identical to our flagship GastroPlus™ software in every way practical, so that users of both programs see the same interface for the same functions. We’ve added a new open loop simulation for the USP 4 flow-through method, in addition to the previous closed loop simulation. We expanded the built-in library of excipients (ingredients other than the drug itself). As a result of user requests, we also expanded the built-in list of buffer solutions used in in vitro dissolution experiments to include buffers from the Japanese Pharmacopeia and additional acetate buffers from the U.S. Pharmacopeia.”
Walt Woltosz, chairman and chief executive officer of Simulations Plus added: “DDDPlus remains the only program of its kind in the world today. DDDPlus saves time and money. It’s that simple. Rather than an iterative process of design-experiment-design-experiment, DDDPlus enables formulation scientists to run a single experiment to calibrate the model for a particular type of dosage form, and then to use simulations to investigate which changes in the formulation or in the experiment will achieve the desired results. We decided five years ago that a program like this was a good investment for organic growth. Version 1.0 was released in February 2005; however, adoption was slow for the first couple of years because formulation scientists were not accustomed to the idea of using simulations for in vitroexperiments. Since then the number of users has increased steadily, and the adoption rate has accelerated. We believe this is due in part to the excellent feedback we’ve received from our customers which has guided our development efforts to improve the utility of this productivity tool.”