Development of Coprocessed Chitin-Calcium Carbonate as Multifunctional Tablet Excipient for Direct Compression, Part 2: Tableting Properties

Abstract

The use of multifunctional excipients is gaining interest as it simplifies formulations by replacing the need of multiple monofunctional excipients. In previous work, coprocessed chitin-calcium carbonate (CC) showed to have good potential as a multifunctional excipient for fast disintegrating tablets produced by direct compression. It allowed for good tablet strength, enhanced powder flowability, and higher true and bulk densities with fast disintegrating properties. The objective of this work is to gain insight on CC tableting properties under different tablet manufacturing conditions (different lubrication levels, compression speeds, and dwell times) and in formulations with drug models: ibuprofen and paracetamol. Results showed that CC exhibited good tabletability, compressibility, and compactibility profiles. CC does not require the addition of lubricant and can be used at high compression speeds and different dwell times. When included in formulations with ibuprofen and paracetamol at different percentages, CC enhanced tablets strength and promoted fast disintegration and drug dissolution. In conclusion, this study shows that CC can be used as a multifunctional excipient (filler-disintegrant-binder) for fast disintegrating tablets produced by direct compression.

Keywords: chitin-calcium carbonate; compaction; dissolution; multifunctional excipient; rapid disintegration.