ABSTRACT:
This main aim of the current review article is to provide a complete overview on recent development in excipient technology and the approaches involved in development of such excipients. Formulation scientists recognized that single component excipients do not always provide the requisite performance to allow certain active pharmaceutical ingredients to be formulated or manufactured adequately and they have focused their attention on the production of multifunctional excipients with enhanced performance to meet the needs of formulation experts in terms of costs of production, enhanced excipient functionality and quality of tablets. Manipulation in the functionality of excipient is provided by the co-processing of two or more existing excipients. Tablet manufacturing has been changed by the introduction of the direct-compression process and high-speed machines. These two developments have increased the demands on the functionality of excipients in terms of flow and compression properties. Direct compression is the preferred method for the preparation of tablets. The shift in tabletting toward direct-compression and high-speed manufacturing has forced the excipient industry to search for new excipients. The excipient industry, which has largely been an extension of the food industry, has taken up the novel use of particle engineering and material sciences to pave the way for a new category of functional excipients called co processed excipients. The coprocessing is the most widely explored method for the preparation of directly compressible adjuvants because it is cost effective and can be prepared in-house based on the functionality required.