Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1112785
28 May 2019 Tablets & Capsules Sangüesa of Quadro Engineering presented on milling for particle size reduction. The rest of the course's top- ics were covered by Tousey. The class of 15 attendees was comprised of business owners, sales team members, quality assurance managers, R&D personnel, formulators, and machine operators from small to large pharmaceutical and nutraceutical manufacturers. Techceuticals designed the course with groups like this in mind, so both novices and experts could benefit from the course's practical information on the solid dosage manufacturing process. "This is a won- derful course for someone like me who is new to the pharmaceutical industry," said attendee Ingrid Leon- Barra, a process and project engineer at Osmotica Pharmaceuticals, Bridgewater, NJ. "What I learned during these sessions will help me navigate all the unit operations at my facility." A simple approach During the introduction to his dry compaction presen- tation, Walzcer quoted Einstein, who said, "If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough." mulation, blending, milling, granulation, drying, tablet- ing, tooling, coating, and encapsulation. The lab is supported by several industry partners, including Federal Equipment, Bosch, CapsCanada, Colorcon, Fette, Glatt, IMA, Natoli, and Suheung, among others. Part of their support includes providing machinery and supplies for use in the lab. "This lab is like a playground for guys like me," said Todd Schroeter, owner of CLO2 Delivery Systems, Medina, OH, and an attendee at the January training course. "You get to fiddle with different equipment from different brands and see firsthand how to make a good tablet or capsule, usually by making a few bad ones first and learning from those mistakes." These industry partners also send guest speakers to p r e s e n t o n d i f f e r e n t a r e a s o f e x p e r t i s e d u r i n g Techceuticals training courses. For the January course, Ed Godek of Glatt Air Techniques, Ramsey, NJ, pre- sented on fluid-bed granulation; Matthew Walzcer of Alexanderwerk, Montgomeryville, PA, presented on d r y c o m p a c t i o n ; D e n n i s B o l z o n o f O ' H a r a Technologies presented on tablet coating; and Wilf Photos 4 a and b: During his demonstration on blending, Tousey hand mixed excipients and active ingredients of different particle sizes to demonstrate the importance of proper blending and particle sizing. Later, he mixed larger portions of these ingredients in a clear-wall v-blender to help illustrate the pros and cons of this type blender as well as the problem of segregation. Photo 5: Throughout the various presentations, Tousey collected samples of the formulation after blending, roller compaction, and granulation to demonstrate the different stages of particle sizing and agglomeration. Photo 6: Ed Godek of Glatt Air Techniques demonstrates how to properly operate a lab-scale fluid-bed granulator to condition a formulation to a specified granule size.