Continuous twin screw granulation: Impact of binder addition method and surfactants on granulation of a high-dosed,...

Despite the recent commercialization of several drug products manufactured through continuous manufacturing techniques, knowledge on the formulation aspect of these techniques, such as twin screw wet granulation, is still rather limited. Previous research identified lactose/MCC/HPMC as a robust platform formulation for several model formulations, although granulation of the high-dosed, poorly soluble API mebendazole proved challenging. Therefore, current research evaluated the binder addition method (wet or dry) as well as surfactant (SLS) addition when using PVP, instead of HPMC. Compared to the previous formulation, using HPMC as binder, all four formulations with PVP yielded significantly stronger granules at similar to significantly lower liquid to solid (L/S) ratios. Through the combination of four replicate center composite circumscribed designs, each evaluating the impact of screw speed and L/S ratio on granule quality attributes, the effect of the formulation variables was assessed. Overall, L/S ratio had the most significant impact on granule characteristics whereas the effect of screw speed was negligible. Similar granule quality attributes were obtained for each formulation, although the addition of SLS and wet binder addition significantly reduced the required L/S ratio to achieve the desired characteristics. This significant reduction could prove useful for processing other formulations requiring high amounts of moisture, which could otherwise not be dried at a high throughput due to the limited drying capacity of the dryer unit of the Consigma system.