Drying of pharmaceuticals in theory and practice

ABSTRACT

Pharmaceutical processes use a wide variety of dryers. This article gives a brief review of some of the practical challenges in process design and operation to ensure final product quality, meeting specification reliably, in a highly regulated environment. Both primary and secondary processing are considered, including tablet coating.

KEYWORDS:

• Agglomeration
• attrition
• coating
• contact dryers
• control
• scale-up
• stickiness
• vacuum drying

Acknowledgments

The material presented in this article draws heavily on work from past and present colleagues at GSK, notably Rachel Allison, Alan Collier, Francois Ricard, Paul Slavin, Peter Skett, and Alistair Gillanders.