Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/922724
Tablets & Capsules January 2018 32C the dies plugging or the tablets picking and sticking to the punches," Thorvaldsson said. "Our operators could run the tablet press for maybe 30 minutes before they had to shut down production to clean the punches and dies." According to Moreno, even those tablets didn't pass muster. "We couldn't create a quality tablet," he said. "We could compress the material, but after 5 minutes off the press, the tablets would cap." Once Nu-Mag was added, the force required to eject the tablets decreased, which eliminated the p l u g g i n g , p i c k i n g , s t i c k i n g , inconsistent weights, and capped t a b l e t s . T h e a d d i t i o n r e q u i r e s o p e r a t o r s t o s i f t t h e N u - M a g together with two of the formula's highest-volume ingredients, a step that prevents the oils in Nu-Mag from forming balls and beads during blending, Moreno said. The pre- blend is then combined with the remainder of the ingredients for 20 minutes in a V-type blender. At a usage level of 5 percent (typical usage is 0.5 to 3 percent), Nu-Mag enabled the tablet press to run for more than 6 days straight with no unscheduled downtime for cleaning. Without the picking and sticking, tablet weights remain steady. "I expected that the Nu-Mag would create better tablets, but I honestly didn't think that it would allow the press to run as fast as it did," Moreno said. "I expected that I would start the press and have to clean it halfway through the job because the powder would stick to the dies and punches. But we didn't have any problems." The company estimates tabletting speed increased by more than 250 percent after a d d i n g N u - M a g b e c a u s e i t eliminated the need for unscheduled cleaning. The company's success with those first tablets prompted Thorvaldsson to plan for more projects. "We are looking forward to increasing our tabletting capacity and looking to add more tabletting equipment." T&C Nu-Flow excipient ratio was tricky," Thorvaldsson said, "but we had a lot of help from Ribus, which sped the process along." No magnesium stearate required I n S e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 6 , R i b u s launched Nu-Mag, a blend of rice extract, rice hulls, gum arabic, and sunflower oil that can replace magnesium stearate. According to ejection-force tests performed by the Natoli Institute at Long Island University, Nu-Mag used at 1 p e r c e n t p e r f o r m e d a s w e l l a s m a g n e s i u m s t e a r a t e u s e d a t 1 percent, providing the same level of lubrication. P r o d u c t s m a n u f a c t u r e d w i t h magnesium stearate are considered "made with" and cannot be certified organic. Nu-Mag, however, is a certified organic alternative to magnesium stearate that allows n u t r a c e u t i c a l m a n u f a c t u r e r s — especially those hoping to expand into the organic market—to produce organic tablets with a lubricant. PureNSM was among the first companies to use Nu-Mag in its for- mulations, which enabled the com- pany to expand into tabletting. "Before Nu-Mag, tabletting was simply not an option for us," Thorvaldsson said. But last year the company was selected to manufacture chewable lutein tablets for export to China. Because the formulation contained more than 10 herbs and couldn't include any traditional excipients, it was nearly impossible to compress. "The powder was incredibly sticky and wouldn't run on the press without "The lutein tablets made with Nu-Mag went on and off the press quickly and had a good taste," Thorvaldsson said. PureNSM Chula Vista, CA Tel. 619 409 9077 Website: www.puresnsm.com Ribus St. Louis, MO. Tel. 314 727 4287 Website: www.ribus.com Reference 1. Expanding clean label excipi- ents globally. Steve Peirce and Steve Dybdal. PowerPoint. Online. Sign up today If you're a T&C subscriber and don't receive Solid Dosage Digest, send us an e-mail that includes your name, com- pany, and preferred e-mail address to start receiving it.