HIGH SHEAR GRANULATION PROCESS: ASSESSING IMPACT OF FORMULATION VARIABLES ON GRANULES AND TABLETS CHARACTERISTICS OF HIGH DRUG LOADING FORMULATION USING DESIGN OF EXPERIMENT METHODOLOGY

High shear wet granulation is a significant component procedure in the pharmaceutical industry. The objective of the study was to investigate the influence of two independent formulation variables; polyvinypymilidone (PVP) as a hinder (X-1) and croscarmellose sodium (CCS) as a disintegrant (X-2) on the critical quality attributes of acetaminophen granules and their corresponding tablets using design of experiment (DoE) approach. A two factor, three level (3(2)) full factorial design has been applied; each variable was investigated at three levels to characterize their strength and interaction. The dried granules have been analyzed for their density. granule size and flowability. Additionally, the produced tablets have been investigated for: breaking force. friability. disintegration time and t(80), of drug dissolution. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed that the two variables had a significant impact (p < 0.05) on granules and tablets characteristics, while only the binder concentration influenced the tablets friability. Furthermore. significant interactions (p < 0.05) between the two variables, for granules and tablets attributes, were also found. However, variables interaction showed minimal effect for granules flowability as well as tablets friability. Desirability function was carried out to optimize the variables under study to obtain product within the USP limit. It was found that the higher desirability (0.985) could he obtained at the medium level of PVP and low level of CCS. Ultimately, this study supplies the formulator with beneficial tools in selecting the proper level of binder and disintegrant to attain product with desired characteristics.