Albumin-free botulinum toxin formulations

1. A pharmaceutical composition comprising a liquid carrier, wherein the liquid carrier comprises a botulinum toxin and non-peptide excipients consisting of,

a non-ionic surfactant,

one or more non-reducing sugars selected from non-reducing disaccharides and a non-reducing trisaccharides,

a bulking agent, and

one or more physiologically compatible buffers,

wherein the concentration of the bulking agent is in the range of 5% to 10% w/v, and

wherein the ratio of the non-reducing sugar to the bulking agent on a weight percentage basis is in the range of 0.4 to 0.6,

wherein the liquid carrier is formulated such that upon vacuum drying or lyophilization an amorphous solid is formed.

2. The composition according to claim 1 , wherein the botulinum toxin is a Type A toxin.

3. The composition according to claim 1 , wherein the botulinum toxin is 150 kD Type A toxin.

4. The composition according to claim 1 , wherein the bulking agent is sorbitol, mannitol, glycine, arginine, and histidine.

5. The composition according to claim 1 , wherein the bulking agent is not sodium chloride.

6. The composition according to claim 1 , wherein the non-reducing disaccharide or tri-saccharide used to prepare the composition is selected from the group consisting of trehalose dihydrate, anhydrous trehalose, sucrose, raffinose and combinations thereof.

7. The composition according to claim 6 , wherein the non-reducing disaccharide used to prepare the composition is selected from sucrose, trehalose dihydrate or anhydrous trehalose.

8. The composition according to claim 1 , wherein the non-ionic surfactant used to prepare the composition is selected from the group consisting of polysorbates, sorbitan esters, octylphenol ethylene oxide, nonylphenol ethoxylate, poloxamers and combinations thereof.

9. The composition according to claim 8 , wherein the non-ionic surfactant used to prepare the composition is selected from the group consisting of polysorbate 20, polysorbate 40, polysorbate 60, polysorbate 80, sorbitan monolaurate, sorbitan monostearate, sorbitan tristearate, and sorbitan monooleate.

10. The composition according to claim 1 , wherein the physiologically compatible buffer is selected from the group consisting of citric acid, acetic acid, succinic acid, tartaric acid, maleic acid, histidine, citrate/acetate, citrate/histidine, citrate/tartrate, maleate/histidine, succinate/histidine, or salts thereof, and phosphate buffer.

11. The composition according to claim 1 , wherein the liquid carrier is aqueous.

12. The composition according to claim 11 , wherein the composition is configured to be suitable for injection upon reconstitution of the amorphous solid.

13. A pharmaceutical composition comprising liquid carrier, wherein the liquid carrier comprises a botulinum toxin and non-peptide excipients consisting of,

a non-ionic surfactant,

one or more non-reducing sugars selected from non-reducing disaccharides and a non-reducing trisaccharides,

sodium chloride,

a bulking agent, and

a physiologically compatible buffer,

wherein the concentration of the bulking agent is in the range of 5% to 10% w/v and

wherein the ratio of the non-reducing sugar to the bulking agent on a weight percentage basis is in the range of 0.4 to 0.6,

wherein the liquid carrier is formulated such that upon vacuum drying or lyophilization an amorphous solid is formed.

14. The composition according to claim 1 , wherein the liquid carrier comprises the botulinum toxin and excipients consisting of

the non-ionic surfactant,

the one or more non-reducing sugars,

the bulking agent, and

the one or more physiologically compatible buffers.