Delta-mannitol to enable continuous twin-screw granulation of a highly dosed, poorly compactable formulation

23 Jul 2024 | Contributor(s): Vanhoorne, V., Almey, R., De Beer, T., Vervaet, C.

In current study, it was investigated if the moisture-mediated polymorphic transition from δ- to β-mannitol during twin screw granulation (TSG) also took place in high drug loaded formulations and if the specific granule morphology associated with the polymorphic transition could enable tableting...

Control oriented modeling of twin-screw granulation in the ConsiGmaTM-25 production plant

09 Jul 2024 | Peer-reviewed journal | Contributor(s): Johannes Khinast, Martin Horn, Jakob Rehrl, Selma Celikovic, Johannes Poms

ConsiGmaTM-25 is a continuous production plant integrating a twin-screw granulation, fluid bed drying, granule conditioning, and a tableting unit. The particle size distribution (PSD), active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) content, and liquid content of wet granules after twin-screw...

Visualization and understanding of the granulation liquid mixing and distribution during continuous twin screw granulation using NIR chemical imaging

09 Jun 2023 | Peer-reviewed journal | Contributor(s): Vercruysse, Jurgen, Toiviainen, Maunu, Fonteyne, Margot, Helkimo, Niko, Ketolainen, Jarkko, Juuti, Mikko, Delaet, Urbain, Van Assche, Ivo, Remon, Jean Paul, Vervaet, Chris, De Beer, Thomas

Over the last decade, there has been increased interest in the application of twin screw granulation as a continuous wet granulation technique for pharmaceutical drug formulations. However, the mixing of granulation liquid and powder material during the short residence time inside the screw...

Using online mass spectrometry to predict the end point during drying of pharmaceutical products

09 Jun 2023 | Peer-reviewed journal | Contributor(s): Dodda, Aditya G., Saranteas, Kostas, Henson, Michael A.

Drying of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) is an energy-intensive process that is often a manufacturing bottleneck due to the relatively long processing times. A key objective is the ability to determine the drying end point, the time at which all solvent has been evaporated from the...

Use of the channel fill level in defining a design space for twin screw wet granulation

09 Jun 2023 | Peer-reviewed journal | Contributor(s): Gorringe, L. J., Kee, G. S., Saleh, M. F., Fa, N. H., Elkes, R. G.

Twin screw wet granulation is a key process in the continuous manufacture of oral solid dosage forms. Previous Research Article has qualitatively suggested that the channel fill level influences the granules produced. In this paper a quantitative measure of the total volumetric fraction of the...

TPLS as predictive platform for twin-screw wet granulation process and formulation development

09 Jun 2023 | Peer-reviewed journal | Contributor(s): Ryckaert, A., Van Hauwermeiren, D., Dhondt, J., De Man, A., Funke, A., Djuric, D., Vervaet, C., Nopens, I., De Beer, T.

In recent years, the interest in continuous manufacturing techniques, such as twin-screw wet granulation, has increased. However, the understanding of the influence of the combination of raw material properties and process settings upon the granule quality attributes is still limited. In this...

Transfer from High-Shear Batch to Continuous Twin Screw Wet Granulation: A Case Study in Understanding the Relationship Between Process Parameters and Product Quality Attributes

09 Jun 2023 | Peer-reviewed journal | Contributor(s): Beer, Paul, Wilson, David, Huang, Zhenyu, De Matas, Marcel

A twin screw to high-shear batch granulation technology switch was evaluated for a pharmaceutical development project. Differences in granule (particle size distribution and porosity) and tablet (dissolution) quality attributes were analysed for both continuous and batch technologies. Liquid to...

Twin screw granulation - review of current progress

09 Jun 2023 | Peer-reviewed journal | Contributor(s): Thompson, M. R.

Twin screw granulation (TSG) is a new process of interest to the pharmaceutical community that can continuously wet granulate powders, doing so at lower liquid concentrations and with better product consistency than found by a high shear batch mixer. A considerable body of Research Article has...

Towards a novel continuous HME-Tableting line: Process development and control concept

09 Jun 2023 | Peer-reviewed journal | Contributor(s): Sacher, Stephan, Celikovic, Selma, Rehrl, Jakob, Poms, Johannes, Kirchengast, Martin, Kruisz, Julia, Sipek, Martin, Salar-Behzadi, Sharareh, Berger, Hannes, Stark, Gerald, Horn, Martin, Khinast, Johannes G.

The objective of this study was to develop a novel closed-loop controlled continuous tablet manufacturing line, which first uses hot melt extrusion (HME) to produce pellets based on API and a polymer matrix. Such systems can be used to make complex pharmaceutical formulations, e.g., amorphous...

The Influence of Equipment Design and Process Parameters on Granule Breakage in a Semi-Continuous Fluid Bed Dryer after Continuous Twin-Screw Wet Granulation

09 Jun 2023 | Peer-reviewed journal | Contributor(s): Ryckaert, Alexander, Ghijs, Michael, Portier, Christoph, Djuric, Dejan, Funke, Adrian, Vervaet, Chris, De Beer, Thomas

The drying unit of a continuous from-powder-to-tablet manufacturing line based on twin-screw granulation (TSG) is a crucial intermediate process step to achieve the desired tablet quality. Understanding the size reduction of pharmaceutical granules before, during, and after the fluid bed drying...

The effect of screw configuration and formulation variables on liquid requirements and granule quality in a continuous twin screw wet granulation process

09 Jun 2023 | Peer-reviewed journal | Contributor(s): Vandevivere, L., Van Wijmeersch, E., Hausler, O., De Beer, T., Vervaet, C., Vanhoorne, V.

The effect of two screw configurations with varying stagger angle was evaluated on the liquid amount required to produce good quality granules for a highly (mannitol-based) and a poorly (DCP-based) soluble formulation containing different binders. It is generally known that the use of a higher...

The impact of channel fill level on internal forces during continuous twin screw wet granulation

09 Jun 2023 | Peer-reviewed journal | Contributor(s): Torrecillas, Carlota Mendez, Gorringe, Lee J., Rajoub, Nazer, Robertson, John, Elkes, Richard G., Lamprou, Dimitrios A., Halbert, Gavin W

The forces experienced by the particles inside a twin screw granulator (TSG) are one of the most difficult parameters to measure quantitatively. However, it is possible to perform accurately this measurement through the use of dye containing calibrated microencapsulated sensors (LAMES) whose...

The Changing Face of Process Development & Chemical Manufacturing - A View from the Regulators on Continuous Manufacturing

09 Jun 2023 | Website | Contributor(s): Wiles, Charolotte

Industry wide there is a drive for resource efficiency and flexibility, to adapt quickly in what is increasingly becoming a volatile, changing marketplace. As the ‘patent cliff’ looms for many high-volume API’s, there is also a shift away from blockbusters towards lower volume, higher potency...

System-wide hybrid MPC–PID control of a continuous pharmaceutical tablet manufacturing process via direct compaction

09 Jun 2023 | Peer-reviewed journal | Contributor(s): Singh, Ravendra, Ierapetritou, Marianthi, Ramachandran, Rohit

The next generation of QbD based pharmaceutical products will be manufactured through continuous processing. This will allow the integration of online/inline monitoring tools, coupled with an efficient advanced model-based feedback control systems, to achieve precise control of process variables,...

Switching from batch to continuous granulation: A case study of metoprolol succinate ER tablets

09 Jun 2023 | Peer-reviewed journal | Contributor(s): Kotamarthy, Lalith, Feng, Xin, Alayoubi, Alaadin, Bolla, Pradeep Kumar, Ramachandran, Rohit, Ashraf, Muhammad, O'Connor, Thomas, Zidan, Ahmed

Continuous manufacturing (CM) has been used to produce several immediate release drug products. No extended-release (ER) product manufactured employing CM technology has been approved yet. This study investigated the critical aspects of switching from the batch mode of high shear granulation to...

Solvothermal Crystallization Kinetics and Control of Crystal Size Distribution of MOF-808 in a Continuous Flow Reactor

09 Jun 2023 | Peer-reviewed journal | Contributor(s): Bagi, Sujay D., Myerson, Allan S. Román-Leshkov, Yuriy, Román-Leshkov, Yuriy

A fundamental understanding of the crystallization pathways for metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) allows for exploring the untapped combinatorial space of the organic and inorganic building units, creating possibilities to synthesize highly crystalline frameworks with desired physicochemical...

Simplified formulations with high drug loads for continuous twin-screw granulation

09 Jun 2023 | Peer-reviewed journal | Contributor(s): Meier, R., Thommes, M., Rasenack, N., Krumme, M., Moll, K. -P., Kleinebudde, P.

As different batches of the same excipients will be intermixed during continuous processes, the traceability of batches is complicated. Simplified formulations may help to reduce problems related to batch intermixing and traceability. Twin-screw granulation with subsequent tableting was used to...

Selective crystallization of the metastable α-form of L-glutamic acid using concentration feedback control

09 Jun 2023 | Peer-reviewed journal | Contributor(s): Kee, Nicholas C.S., Tan, Reginald B.H. Braatz, Richard D., Braatz, Richard D.

A systematic methodology is presented for the selective crystallization of the metastable form of a monotropic dimorph, L-glutamic acid, for batch cooling crystallization. Attenuated total reflection-Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy coupled with chemometrics was used to...

Sampling and Analysis in Flow: The Keys to Smarter, More Controllable, and sustainable Fine-Chemical Manufacturing

09 Jun 2023 | Peer-reviewed journal | Contributor(s): Morin, Mathieu, Zhang, Wenyao, Mallik, Debasis, Organ, Michael G

Process analytical technology (PAT) is a system designed to help chemists better understand and control manufacturing processes. PAT systems operate through the combination of analytical devices, reactor control elements, and mathematical models to ensure the quality of the final product through...

Robust nonlinear model predictive control of batch processes

09 Jun 2023 | Peer-reviewed journal | Contributor(s): Nagy, Zoltan K., Braatz, Richard D.

NMPC explicitly addresses constraints and nonlinearities during the feedback control of batch processes. This NMPC algorithm also explicitly takes parameter uncertainty into account in the state estimation and state feedback controller designs. An extended Kalman filter estimates the process...

Residence Time Distribution (RTD)-Based Control System for Continuous Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Process

09 Jun 2023 | Peer-reviewed journal | Contributor(s): Bhaskar, Aparajith, Singh, Ravendra

Recent progress in continuous manufacturing of oral solid dosage forms

09 Jun 2023 | Peer-reviewed journal | Contributor(s): Vanhoorne, Valérie, Vervaet, Chris

Continuous drug product manufacturing is slowly being implemented in the pharmaceutical industry. Although the benefits related to the quality and cost of continuous manufacturing are widely recognized, several challenges hampered the widespread introduction of continuous manufacturing of drug...

Recent progress in continuous and semi-continuous processing of solid oral dosage forms: a review

09 Jun 2023 | Peer-reviewed journal | Contributor(s): Tezyk, Michal, Ernst, Andrzej, Milanowski, Bartlomiej, Lulek, Janina

Continuous processing is an innovative production concept well known and successfully used in other industries for many years. The modern pharmaceutical industry is facing the challenge of transition from a traditional manufacturing approach based on batch-wise production to a continuous...

Real-Time Monitoring of Powder Mass Flowrates for Plant-Wide Control of a Continuous Direct Compaction Tablet Manufacturing Process

09 Jun 2023 | Peer-reviewed journal | Contributor(s): Huang, Yan-Shu, Medina-González, Sergio Straiton, Benjamin Keller, Joshua, Marashdeh, Qussai, Gonzalez, Marcial, Nagy, Zoltan, Reklaitis, Gintaras V.

While measurement and monitoring of powder/particulate mass flow rate are not essential to the execution of traditional batch pharmaceutical tablet manufacturing, in continuous operation, it is an important additional critical process parameter. It has a key role both in establishing that the...

Real-time process monitoring in a semi-continuous fluid-bed dryer - microwave resonance technology versus near-infrared spectroscopy

09 Jun 2023 | Peer-reviewed journal | Contributor(s): Peters, Johanna, Teske, Andreas, Taute, Wolfgang, Döscher, Claas, Höft, Michael, Knöchel, Reinhard, Breitkreutz, Jörg

The trend towards continuous manufacturing in the pharmaceutical industry is associated with an increasing demand for advanced control strategies. It is a mandatory requirement to obtain reliable real-time information on critical quality attributes (CQA) during every process step as the decision...