Roller
compaction (RC) is a continuous process for solid dosage form manufacturing
within the pharmaceutical industry achieving similar goals as wet
granulation while avoiding liquid exposure. From a quality by design
perspective, the aim of the present study was to demonstrate the applicability
of statistical design of experiments (DoE) and multivariate modeling
principles to identify the Design Space of a roller compaction process
using a predictive risk-based approach. For this purpose, a reduced
central composite face-centered (CCF) design was used to evaluate
the influence of roll compaction process variables (roll force, roll
speed, gap width, and screen size) on the different intermediate and
final products (ribbons, granules, and tablets) obtained after roll
compaction, milling, and tableting. After developing a regression
model for each response, optimal settings were found which comply
with the response criteria. Finally, a predictive risk based approach
using Monte Carlo simulation of the factor variability and its influence
on the responses was applied which fulfill the criteria for the responses
in a space where there is a low risk for failure. Responses were as
follows: granule throughput, ribbon porosity, granules particle size,
and tablets tensile strength. The multivariate method orthogonal partial
least-squares (OPLS) was used to model product dependencies between
process steps e.g. granule properties with tablet properties. Those
results confirmed that the tensile strength reduction, known to affect
plastic materials when roll compacted, was not prominent when using
brittle materials. While direct compression qualities are frequently
used for roll compacted drug products because of their excellent flowability
and good compaction properties, this study confirmed earlier findings
that granules from these qualities were more poor flowing than the
corresponding powder blend.
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