Direct Compression
This is the simplest process for the production of tablets. It consists of three main steps: powder blending, lubrication, and compression. Atomized lipid excipients are used as lubricants or modified-release agents in direct compression.
Advantages of lipid excipients in direct compression:
- batch-to-batch composition uniformity, ensuring high quality and performance of final product (adequate for QbD development)
- chemical inertness, preventing incompatibilities with other excipients or with drug
- tablet hardness, resulting in robustness as product is not affected by compression
Range of functional excipients for direct compression:
- Lubricants to decrease friction between particles and compression tools
- Compritol® 888 ATO—for challenging pharmaceutical tablets
- Compritol® HD 5—for water-dispersible tablets
We can provide technical guidelines on the use of Compritol® 888 ATO as lubricant for challenging pharmaceutical tablets that offer useful tips and numerous case studies.- Modified-release agent to produce robust lipid matrix tablet
- Compritol® 888 ATO—a well-established sustained-release agent with precedence of use and numerous publicationsdemonstrating efficacy
We can provide technical guidelines that offer useful tips on SR formulation development and numerous case studies with model drug molecules, e.g., bupropion HCl, levodopa, metformin HCl, metoprolol succinate, niacin, and theophylline.
Sticking issue
Sticking during tableting is a relatively common problem. It is often attributable to tooling and machine setup. However, the formulation, active ingredient, and excipients can play an important role. We conducted an in-house study to evaluate the cause of punch adhesion or “sticking,” which occasionally occurs during the compression of powder formulations containing Compritol® 888 ATO. Our study concludes that sticking is primarily due to a combination of factors, including formulation with a “sticky” API and use of ingredients with reduced interparticle bonding capacity.
Contact Gattefossé for the full study report.
