TABLETING POTENTIAL OF CO-PROCESSED STARCH, ALGINIC ACID ANDPOLYVINYL PYRROLIDONE AS DIRECTLY COMPRESSIBLE EXCIPIENT

Abstract

The goal of the study was to evaluate the functionality of co-processed material containing starch, alginic acid and
polyvinyl pyrrolidone in tableting. This was achieved by co-processing maize starch with alginic acid and polyvinyl
pyrrolidone in an optimized ratio to develop a robust excipient with multifunctional properties. A systematic
approach was applied to optimize the composition of the co-processed excipient by determining the proportion by
percentage weight of each of the materials used in the co-processing. The optimized formula for preparing the coprocessed excipient with multifunctional properties was found to be maize starch (82%), alginic acid (8%) and
polyvinyl pyrrolidone (10%) respectively. Solid state characterization of the co-processed excipient revealed an
increase in size of the particles, with spherical shape and rough surfaces. The flowability and compression properties
of the co-processed excipient were found to be superior to that of maize starch, alginic acid and polyvinyl
pyrrolidone, and the excipients were found to be compatible with one another when co-processed together and also
compatible with the drug of choice for the study. The tablets produced using the co-processed excipient by direct
compression conformed to the official specification for desirable immediate release tablets and compared well with
the commercially available co-processed excipient, Ludipress®.