Understanding the effect of spherical agglomeration on tablet manufacturability and performance

Oral solid dosage (OSD) forms are the most common formulations for marketed pharmaceuticals, while tablets are the most common form of OSD produced. The properties of the materials directly influence the tabletting process; both the former and latter will determine the mechanical and performance properties of the final product. Spherical agglomeration (SA) is the process of organising particles into spherical clusters, and has been shown to improve material properties and overcome flowability issues. A compaction simulator was used to compact tablets containing either spherically agglomerated active pharmaceutical ingredient (API), or the primary crystal form of API. These tablets were assessed for their mechanical strength and porosity. Tablets were also assessed via terahertz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS), followed by dissolution studies, to evaluate their performance.