Principal investigator: Antonios Zavaliangos

University: Drexel University

Industry partners: Natoli Scientific

A collaborative study between Drexel University and Natoli Scientific aims to understand the issues related to scaling of pharmaceutical tableting and properties across different tablet sizes. It will focus on two aspects of this problem:

  1. the design and optimization of pediatric solid dosages which are small in size (1-3mm), in addition to the regular adult dosages (typically 10-15mm), without having to repeat the R&D work
  2. the characterization of pharmaceutical formulations for tableting performance and post compaction properties under severe material sparing requirements–a situation that is common when the active ingredients are expensive and/or can be produced only in small quantities, typically encountered in the very early stages of new drug development

The goal of this work is to create guidelines that will support rational decisions in manufacturing of tablets in these two situations described above. To this end, a combined experimental and modeling approach will be pursued. The deliverables are design guidelines that will enable rapid and cost-effective development of pediatric dosages and efficient planning of the characterization of pharmaceutical formulations under extreme material sparing restrictions. The results of this research will be significant for new drug development by shortening the time to market for new therapeutic solutions and by reducing the cost of the associated R&D efforts. The students involved will benefit from the usage of the Natoli facilities and the direct interactions with company scientists and engineers.