Technological Innovation in the management of Film-Coating
Data: 02_02_2023
Categoria: Best in class Technologies
The Biofarma group is accelerating the technical innovation process of its production sites. The Mereto site has equipped itself with a new latest-generation coating pan plant for coating tablets and filming with qualitatively higher standards than translational technologies.
The process of filming tablets
Filming involves the formation of a thin layer of film-forming polymer around the tablet. This layer, with a thickness of 20 to 100 μm, represents approximately 1-10% of the initial weight of the tablet. During filming, the coating is applied to the tablet in a rotating drum basin plate.
The coating process represents a very delicate step in the production of tablets that requires three starting conditions:
- The tablet core is formulated to withstand the mechanical stresses to which it is subjected during the process to make it possible for the film to adhere to its surface.
- The coating agent, with its specific composition
- The filming process must correctly calibrate the delicate balance between the atomization of the dispersion of the coating and drying
State of the art film coating technology
Biofarma group boasts a strong know-how of the different parameters in the filming phase, offering its customers solid experience in formulations to develop robust and practical solutions.
IMA’s new Effecta 750 implant is a perforated basin for core coating using filming processes. High-quality components include a perforated basket and plowshares specially designed for effective core mixing. Among the most important strengths of the system, we find:
- High production capacity with batches of 500-600 kg for each processing;
- Automated washing and drying system of the machine that allows a reduction of the variability of the process;
- Automated management of process parameters through recipes uploaded to the management computer system;
- Reduction of basin output variability thanks to automated maintenance of process parameters;
- Automated download of filmed tablets;
- The presence of the perforated basket that allows for optimizing the heat exchange between the process air and the cores going to reduce the filming times and, therefore, the thermal stress of the cores themselves
The advantages of filming
The filming of the tablets has a fundamental function regarding maintaining the therapeutic target or the functional properties of the product:
- Taste-masking: the filming improves taste and masks odors associated with the use of active ingredients;
- Facilitates swallowing through the creation of a smooth surface in the product;
- Improves the aesthetic appearance of the product, especially in special cases where the active ingredients are only colored and create aesthetic inhomogeneity;
- Guarantees and stability of the product, protecting it from light, moisture, and oxidation.
