DEVELOPMENT OF DIRECTLY COMPRESSIBLE CO-PROCESSED EXCIPIENTS FOR ORALLY DISINTEGRATING TABLETS USING ROTARY EVAPORATION METHOD

Objective: The objective of this research was to co-process tablet excipients by rotary evaporation method to create mixtures that can help in achieving direct compression, optimum disintegration time along with required hardness and friability in formulation of orally disintegrating tablets. Methods: The co-processing of lactose with other excipients was done by rotary evaporation method using water as solvent. The co -processed excipients were evaluated for precompression and postcompression properties. To check the effect of solvent, the lactose- sodium starch glycolate (SSG) mixture which was found to be best, was co-processed using methanol and water: methanol (1:1) as solvent systems. Placebo tablets were prepared and evaluated. These three coprocessed excipients were used in formulation of orally disintegrating tablets (ODTs) using Zolmitriptan as a model drug and tablets were evaluated for various parameters. Results: The precompression properties of processed lactose had shown significant increase in compressibility. When co -processing of lactose was done with other excipients using water as solvent, lactose- SSG co-processed mixture had shown best result compared to other co-processed excipients. When lactose- SSG mixture was co-processed with methanol and water: methanol (1:1) as solvent, its compressibility was not improved that much as with water alone. This was further evident from the evaluation of ODTs of Zolmitriptan. Conclusion: The co-processed mixture of lactose & SSG prepared by rotary evaporation method using water as solvent had shown best properties among all co-processed mixtures which was proved by its use in ODTs of Zolmitriptan.