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News Release from: GEA Process Engineering | Subject: Tablet coating: SuperCell
Edited by the Processingtalk Editorial
Team on 20 December 2006
New even tablet coater for small batch
projects
The Niro Pharma Systems new tablet coating system promises to achieve a step forward in the even-ness of tablet coating and make the production of small batches for R + D more cost effective
SuperCell Coating Technology (SCT) is designed to accurately deposit coating materials on tablets - even if they are friable or hygroscopic - and can handle batch sizes as little as 30 grams The system was officially unveiled in Europe last year
This article was originally published on Processingtalk on 18 Apr 2008 at 8.00am (UK)
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NPS claims that conventional methods of tablet coating have inconsistent and imperfect results, leading to irregular results that can affect the behaviour of the tablet.
This can create an element of variability that gains in significance if a small run of tablets is being produced for clinical trials.
In conventional coaters, tablets are loaded in large rotating pans and vented for hot air drying, but this means tablet edges can get ground off, indentations can get filled in by coating material and edges and corners may not be coated with the same thickness as the tablet faces.
These inaccuracies limit the use of modified release coatings, according to NPS.
The SCT uses a technique in which the tablets are coated with the coating spray in the same direction as the drying gas.
This creates more efficient and a more even coating.
Meanwhile, the SCT has an air distribution plate design that helps the tablets move quickly and predictably through the spray zone.
This means a small amount of coating material gets added on each pass, which also helps boost the even-ness of the result and makes it easier to handle friable or unusually shaped objects.
Another problem with conventional coating is that it requires large batches of tablets - several kilograms - to be coated at one time.
This can be wasteful and costly, particularly for R + D of dosage forms.
The SCT handles batches from 30 to 120 grams.
The SCT is quicker than conventional coaters - taking seconds or minutes rather than hours to complete the process - and this makes it suitable for handling very hygroscopic tablets that would degrade if exposed in the coater for extended periods of time.
The accuracy of deposition is great enough that active pharmaceutical ingredients can be layered onto tablets, and uniform layers of taste-masking or modified release coatings can be applied consecutively, within a single batch.
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