Multiple-layer compression-coated tablets: formulation and humidity studies of novel chewable amoxicillin/clavulanate tablet formulations

The effect of long-term spaceflight on drug potency and the risk of medication failure

Pharmaceuticals selected for exploration space missions must remain stable and effective throughout mission timeframes. Although there have been six spaceflight drug stability studies, there has not been a comprehensive analytical analysis of these data. We sought to use these studies to quantify the rate of spaceflight drug degradation and the time-dependent probability of drug failure resulting from the loss of active pharmaceutical ingredient (API). Additionally, existing spaceflight drug stability studies were reviewed to identify research gaps to be addressed prior to exploration missions. Data were extracted from the six spaceflight studies to quantify API loss for 36 drug products with long-duration exposure to spaceflight. Medications stored for up to 2.4 years in low Earth orbit (LEO) exhibit a small increase in the rate of API loss with a corresponding increase in risk of product failure. Overall, the potency for all spaceflight-exposed medications remains within 10% of terrestrial lot-matched control with a ~1.5 increase in degradation rate. All existing studies of spaceflight drug stability have focused primarily on repackaged solid oral medications, which is important because non-protective repackaging is a well-established factor contributing to loss of drug potency. The factor most detrimental to drug stability appears to be nonprotective drug repackaging, based on premature failure of drug products in the terrestrial control group. The result of this study supports a critical need to evaluate the effects of current repackaging processes on drug shelf life, and to develop and validate suitable protective repackaging strategies that help assure the stability of medications throughout the full duration of exploration space missions.

Investigation of critical factors affecting mechanical characteristics of press-coated tablets using a compaction simulator

Press-coated tablets have become an indispensable dosage form in chronotherapeutic drug delivery. Drug release from press-coated tablets has been extensively studied, yet there is little knowledge about their mechanical characteristics. This study aimed to systematically investigate the effects of critical factors on the structure, layer adhesion, and delamination tendency of the tablets. Material elasticity was found to play an important role in determining tablet structure in that excessive elastic mismatch between core and shell materials caused tablet defects during decompression and ejection. Unlike bilayer tablets, the overall strength of press-coated tablets was more affected by binding capacity of coating materials than by the core properties. Shell/core ratio was another factor affecting tablet integrity against external stresses. To mitigate the risk of delamination, poor layer adhesion must be compensated by increasing the coating thickness or enhanced by optimizing the formulation and process (e.g., core plasticity/brittleness, initial core solid fraction, and compression speed). X-ray micro-computed tomography revealed the presence of a shell-core gap and inhomogeneous density distribution within the tablet where the side coat appeared as the least dense and weakest region. These findings will enable the improvement of tablet quality and widen the application of press coating in industrial manufacturing.

Review on Tablet in Tablet techniques

Background

Among all available dosage form, tablet is most widely used because of its stability and patient acceptability. The better aesthetic quality like color, texture, mouth feel, and taste masking depended on film and sugar coatings, so the coating is an important part in the formulation of the tablet. The present work aims to comprehensively review the formulation, characterization, and challenges in the development of Tablet in Tablet dosage form.

Main text

Film and sugar coatings have the number of disadvantages; most important one is the utilization of aqueous or organic solvent that leads to toxicity. To overcome this problem in the year 1896, Noyes firstly introduced the compression coating or Tablet in Tablet technique. In the development of Tablet in Tablet dosage form, substantial attention among researchers and various research reports and patents inputs can be found in the literature. Also, we focused on the recent advancements in techniques like one-step dry-coating (OSDrC®) for manufacturing Tablet in Tablet dosage form.

Conclusion

The current review gathered information on the latest patent, formulation, advantages, and disadvantages of Tablet in Tablet or compression coating. The review also elaborates on the importance of Tablet in Tablet techniques in the development of a modified release system.

Graphical abstract