Swellable floating tablet based on spray-dried casein nanoparticles: Near-infrared spectral characterization and floating matrix evaluation.

In this study, spray-dried alfuzosin hydrochloride (ALF)-loaded casein (CAS) nanoparticles were successfully used for the preparation of a swellable floating matrix via direct compression. The developed NIR calibration model was able to assess ALF and CAS levels in five different batches of drug-loaded nanoparticles. The calibration and prediction plots exhibited good linearity with correlation coefficients of more than 0.9. The standard error of calibration and cross-validation was less than 5% of the measured values, confirming the accuracy of the model. A linear relationship was obtained correlating the actual drug entrapped and the predicted values obtained from the NIR partial least squares regression model. The un-crosslinked tablet demonstrated a substantial weight gain (317% after 2h) and completely disintegrated after 3-4h whereas both 10 and 40% w/w genipin-crosslinked tablets showed lower weight gain (114 and 42% after 2h, respectively). A rapid floating of the tablets within 5-15min (compared to 45min for the marketed tablet) was observed, with maintained floating for 24h. Marketed and prepared tablets succeeded to prolong ALF release for 24h. The development of drug-loaded CAS nanoparticles using spray-drying represents a new alternative for the preparation of swellable floating tablets for prolonged drug release.

Preliminary study of an offline simultaneous determination of metoprolol tartrate and hydrochlorothiazide in powders and tablets by reflectance near-infrared spectroscopy.

A preliminary study of the feasibility of using near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) for the offline simultaneous determination of metoprolol tartrate (MTP) and hydrochlorothiazide (HTZ) in powders and tablets has been carried out. An industrial tableting process was simulated using an instrumented tablet press replicator - Presster™. Conventional reference analytics were replaced with gravimetric analysis. The NIRS models for powder and tablet analysis were developed using 55 samples, and tested on 80 independent samples. Powder mixture components were weighed in glass vials to collect reference values, mixed and manually transferred to a tablet press replicator and compacted to form tablets. NIRS calibration models were developed using spectral and gravimetric reference data. The two model drugs were simultaneously quantified exhibiting root mean-squared error of prediction (RMSEP) of 1.69 and 1.31 mg for HTZ powder and tablet samples, respectively, and RMSEP of 3.15 and 3.00 mg for MTP powder and tablet samples, respectively. NIRS analysis of MTP and HTZ in powder and tablet form has not been reported elsewhere.

Effect of simulated precompression, compression pressure and tableting speed on an offline diffuse transmittance and reflectance near-infrared spectral information of model intact caffeine tablets.

Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) is used in the pharmaceutical industry for monitoring drug content during the tablet manufacturing process. It is of critical importance to understand the effect of process factors on NIRS performance. Design of Experiments (DoE) methodology was applied in this work for the systematic study of the effects of compression pressure, precompression pressure and tableting speed on an average Euclidean distance (AED), which reflects spectral features of the tablets, and root mean-squared error of prediction (RMSEP) as key performance indicator of NIRS calibration models. Caffeine tablets were manufactured in 17 experimental runs in accordance with D-optimal design. Developed diffuse transmittance (DT) and diffuse reflectance (DR) calibration models were tested on five independent test sets to confirm the conclusions of the DoE. Compression pressure and tableting speed have shown significant effect on the studied responses in DT mode, whereas all three studied factors have shown a significant effect in DR mode. Significant factors were considered in the development of the global calibration models. The authors suggest further study of RMSEP and AED responses to draw reliable conclusions on the effects of tableting process factors. The global calibration model in DT mode has shown superior performance compared to DR mode.

Assessing compressibility and compactibility of powder formulations with Near-Infrared Spectroscopy.

CONTEXT: The compressibility and compatibility of a powder formulation is usually determined by compaction and following destructive tensile strength and relative density measurement of the final compact. OBJECTIVE: In this study, a non-destructive method with Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) was designed and evaluated for the measurement of powder compressibility and compactibility. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 12 different formulations with a wide range of difference in properties were investigated by compaction and analysis of the resulting tablets. Two similar tablet batches were produced with every formulation. Relative density and tensile strength were measured with the traditional, destructive method on one tablet batch while a newly developed non-destructive chemometric NIRS method was applied for the second batch. The outcomes of the two approaches were compared to validate the developed method. All data sets were applied to three established mathematical equations to calculate equation factors, which are claimed to represent the formulation compressibility and compactibility. The study focus was set on the equation factor value comparison between the traditional and the newly designed method. RESULTS & DISCUSSION: The results showed a high similarity between the outcomes of the two methods. An essential difference was noticed for the outcomes of the equation factors after application to the Leuenberger equation. CONCLUSION: The approach with the NIRS is suggested as a promising tool for a reliable inline quality monitoring in the tablet manufacturing process.