Tableting functionality evaluation of Prosolv Easytab in comparison to physical mixtures of its individual components

Prosolv Easytab is a recently introduced all-in-one excipient for direct compression. The aim of this work was to compare the compaction and dissolution functionalities of Prosolv Easytab versus équivalent physical mixtures of microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) or silicified microcrystalline cellulose (Prosolv SMCC) with complementary excipients. Lutrol F68 was used as a free flowing and poorly compactable model material for the comparison of the compaction functionality, and carbamazepine was used as a poorly soluble model drug for the investigation of the dissolution rate and dissolution stability after storage under accelerated stability conditions. Results showed that Prosolv Easytab produced comparable compactibility, dissolution and dissolution stability to its analogous physical mixtures based on MCC or Prosolv SMCC. The current findings suggest that Prosolv Easytab is functionally equivalent to physical mixture of its components, with obvious advantages regarding simplicity of manufacture and the potential masking of undesirable properties of individual components.