Scaled-up production and application of co-processed excipient mannitol-HPMC in traditional Chinese medicine

Abstract

Spray drying technology was used to produce co-processed excipients mannitol- hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC), and study the scaled-up production. The consistency of powder and tablet properties before and after scale-up of co-processed excipients was compared, and their applicability in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) powder's direct compression was tested on five TCM extracts such as gardenia extract and Radix Paeoniae Alba extract. It was shown that after scaled-up production, the key properties of co-processed excipients had little changes (such as compactability, disintegrating time, and lubrication sensitivity) or improvement (such as flowability and yield). As compared to commercially available spray-dried mannitol, co-processed excipients achieved better compactability and higher drug loading for direction compression of TCM powder. In conclusion, the mannitol-HPMC co-processed excipient, with excellent physicomechanical properties, is promising to be explored as a new excipient for direct powder compression.