Spherical crystallization for lean solid-dose manufacturing (Part I)

In Part I of this article, the authors discuss their approach for constructing form spaces for the nonionizable active pharmaceutical ingredients carbamazepine, Cimetidine, and phenylbutazone by initial solvent screening of 19 common organic solvents. All possible ternary combinations of a good solvent, an antisolvant, and a bridging liquid were graphically derived and experimentally tasted for the feasibility of spherical crystallization. In Part II of this article, which will appear in the April 2010 issue of Pharmaceutical Technology, the authors discuss their results, which showed that select ternary solvent combinations generated spherical agglomerates in relatively high yields with high friability indices and low angles of repose.