Browsing by discipline "Teollisuusfarmasia"

This work evaluated the use of roller compaction as granulation method for hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) based hydrophilic extended release matrix tablets. Roller compaction is a dry granulation method where powder material is fed through a hopper between two counter-rotating rolls and pressed into a ribbon like compact. The compact is thereafter milled to obtain granules. Two full factorial experimental designs (DoE) were set up using two model active pharmaceutical ingredients (API). Paracetamol was chosen as a model for a highly soluble API that deforms mainly by fragmenting, whereas ibuprofen was used as a model for poorly soluble and plastically deforming API. The effect of process parameters, the roll pressure and the ratio between feeder screw speed and roll speed as well the effect of particle size of API and HPMC on the manufacturability and release robustness were investigated. Both compositions with medium drug load were successfully compacted into ribbon. Roller compaction increased the particle size and bulk density of the tablet mass. However, the methods used for evaluation of flow properties gave contradictive results on whether the flow properties were enhanced after dry granulation. The loss of compactibility after granulation was observed, as the tensile strength of tablets prepared of granules was in most cases lower than that of directly compacted powder. Exceptionally, two of the ibuprofen granulations showed compactibility similar to that of the initial powder blends. Increased roll pressure resulted in denser ribbon and narrower particle size distribution for granules. However, high roll pressure had a tendency to decrease the tablet tensile strength. This is most probably due to the particle size enlargement and work hardening phenomenon during the double compaction. The use of large particle size HPMC improved the permeability of the powder blend and the flow properties of the granulations. Tablet dissolution testing showed that the large sized HPMC particles were unable to percolate through the tablet and form a consistent network. Roller compaction helped to break down the large HPMC agglomerates and distribute them more evenly within the tablets. No significant difference in release profiles was observed for tablets prepared using granules roller compacted with different parameters.

A notable amount of the R&D resources of the proprietary drug firms seems to be directed towards the improvement of existing drugs. Hypothetically, this may lead to interesting formulation development strategies. The purpose of the study was to find out, whether any trends in pharmaceutical product development could be detected from data on granted marketing authorisations. Also the lifecycle management approaches the major pharmaceutical companies use to protect their blockbuster products from generic competition and to ensure their market share were in the interest of this study. The emphasis of the study was on oral solid dosage forms. A combination of qualitative and quantitative methods was employed to obtain a wide view on the subject of the study. Qualitative interviews with the Finnish regulatory authorities were used to collect background information for the quantitative part, which consisted of the marketing authorisation databases covering all MA procedures in Finland, the centralised procedure in the EU, and world's ten major pharmaceutical companies in the US. Based on the study results, there was a remarkable rise in the proportion of generic products of all MAAs authorised in Finland and through the centralised procedure within the European Union during 2000-2010. This change may be at least partly amounted to the legislative changes creating incentives for the use and the manufacture of generic drug products, such as the generic substitution and the reference pricing systems. The US data showed the inclination of the big pharma towards lifecycle management: the majority of the new MAs granted to the world's ten major pharmaceutical companies in 2005-2010 were for this purpose. The ratio of lifecycle management to new molecular entities was almost 4:1. Solid oral dosage form is undeniably the most popular method of drug administration, which was confirmed by the expert interviews and the marketing authorisation data as well. The role of oral solids was even more pronounced within the generic MAs. When innovation was measured by the proportion of non-conventional dosage forms, the US data on solid oral dosage forms indicated strong innovation compared to the Finnish or EU data. This may reflect the innovative product portfolio of the major pharmaceutical companies. The proportion of non-conventional oral solid dosage forms was remarkably smaller in generic than in reference products across all regions. In lifecycle management, the most commonly used strategies were new formulation, new strength or new combination of an existing product. Within the solid oral dosage forms, two-thirds of the new LCM formulations were modified-release preparations. Lifecycle management is an essential part of the major pharmaceutical companies' business strategy, the importance of which was illustrated by the case study of Coreg tablets.