Application of a tablet film coating model to define a process-imposed transition boundary for robust film coating

Abstract

A scientific understanding of interaction of product, film coat, film coating process, and equipment is important to enable design and operation of industrial scale pharmaceutical film coating processes that are robust and provide the level of control required to consistently deliver quality film coated product. Thermodynamic film coating conditions provided in the tablet film coating process impact film coat formation and subsequent product quality. A thermodynamic film coating model was used to evaluate film coating process performance over a wide range of film coating equipment from pilot to industrial scale (2.5–400 kg). An approximate process-imposed transition boundary, from operating in a dry to a wet environment, was derived, for relative humidity and exhaust temperature, and used to understand the impact of the film coating process on product formulation and process control requirements. This approximate transition boundary may aid in an enhanced understanding of risk to product quality, application of modern Quality by Design (QbD) based product development, technology transfer and scale-up, and support the science-based justification of critical process parameters (CPPs).

Keywords:

• Quality by Design
• film coating
• robustness
• pharmaceutical development
• industrialization

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge Dr. Frances Stops for contributing experimental data and equipment details.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.