A Systematic approach to define operating space and MRT...

Full title: A Systematic approach to define operating space and MRT for continuous manufacturing ER tablets: Opportunities and Challenges Presented by Ahmed Zidan, Senior Staff Fellow (Pharmacologist) Center for Drug Evaluation and Research at FDA, Owen Rehrauer, President of Sentronic US Corp and Rodolfo J. Romañach, Ph.D. Center for Structured Organic Particulate Systems (C-SOPS) at the University of Puerto Rico Twin-screw wet granulation is an emerging continuous manufacturing (CM) technology for solid oral dosage forms. Compared to batch operation, this technology offers several advantages including reduced processing time, uniform granule size distribution and shape, and real time process control. Continuous granulation process has been successfully employed for commercial manufacture of IR tablets. However, the high polymer content in the ER formulations has poised challenges by narrowing the design space of screw configuration and operating parameters. This design space defines the flow dynamics within the barrel and plays a crucial role in determining the granule properties. This work pursues a systematic approach for defining the optimum operating space and mean residence time (MRT) through understanding the interaction effects of the screw design and processing parameters on the critical characteristics of granules and tablets. The study identified further the opportunities and challenges of using CM granulation for manufacturing of ER formulations containing high load of swellable polymers. This presentation will showcase a systematic approach for optimizing the operating parameters and process understanding of a twin-screw granulation to manufacture ER tablets. Examples of failure modes will be discussed, along with the implementation of quality-by-design coupled with PAT tools to monitor the critical quality attributes of granules.