Desenvolvimento de aplicações farmacêuticas e biomédicas através de métodos de impregnação/deposição com fluidos supercríticos.

In this chapter, and in addition to a brief discussion on the conventional methods commonly used for the incorporation of additives into solid/semi‑‑solid materials, the so‑‑called Supercritical Solvent Impregnation/Deposition (SSI/SSD) methodologies are presented, detailed and discussed, namely those employing supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO2) as the impregnation/deposition solvent for the development of pharmaceutical and biomedical applications. The main features and requisites of these methods, as well as their potential applications and advantages/disadvantages, are presented and discussed in detail. The state‑‑of‑‑the‑‑art of the already studied specific works/systems is presented, and the main regulatory framework for the development of medicines, medical devices and combination products using the SSI/SSD methodologies are also briefly presented and discussed. It can be concluded that, in recent years, the SSI/SSD methodologies and particularly those employing scCO2, have been increasingly studied and applied for the development of several innovative pharmaceutical and biomedical applications which, in the near future, may be successfully transposed to industrial‑‑scale production of commercial pharmaceutical and biomedical products.