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Critical Reviews™ in Therapeutic Drug Carrier Systems

ISSN for PRINT: 0743-4863

Institutional price:	$1014.00
Issues per year:	6

Best Paper Award Selection - Editorial Board Site

2007, Volume24

100 pages

Issue price - $187.00

Pharmaceutical Approaches to Preparing Pelletized Dosage Forms Using the Extrusion-Spheronization Process

Namrata R. Trivedi
Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, 26 South Dunlap Street, Memphis, TN 38163, USA

Maria Gerald Rajan
Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, 26 South Dunlap Street, Memphis, TN 38163, USA

James R. Johnson
Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, 26 South Dunlap Street, Memphis, TN 38163, USA

Atul J. Shukla
Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, 26 South Dunlap Street, Memphis, TN 38163, USA

ABSTRACT

Pelletized dosage forms date back to the 1950s, when the first product was introduced to the market. Since then, these dosage forms have gained considerable popularity because of their distinct advantages, such as ease of capsule filling because of better flow properties of the spherical pellets; enhancement of drug dissolution; ease of coating; sustained, controlled, or site-specific delivery of the drug from coated pellets; uniform packing; even distribution in the GI tract; and less GI irritation. Pelletized dosage forms can be prepared by a number of techniques, including drug layering on nonpareil sugar or microcrystalline cellulose beads, spray drying, spray congealing, rotogranulation, hot-melt extrusion, and spheronization of low melting materials or extrusion-spheronization of a wet mass. This review discusses recent developments in the pharmaceutical approaches that have been used to prepare pelletized dosage forms using the extrusion-spheronization process over the last decade. The review is divided into three parts: the first part discusses the extrusion-spheronization process, the second part discusses the effect of varying formulation and process parameters on the properties of the pellets, and the last part discusses the different approaches that have been used to prepare pelletized dosage forms using the extrusion-spheronization process.