There is no single
-component excipient fulfills all the requisite performance to allow an active pharmaceutical ingredient to be for
mulated into a
specific dosage form.
Co
-processed excipient has received much more attention in the formulation development of various dosage forms
, specially
for tablet preparation by direct compression method
. The objective of this review is to discuss t
he emergence of co
-processed excipients
as a
current and future trend of excipient technology in pharmaceutical manufacturing.
Co
-processing is a novel concept of combining
two or more
excipient
s that possess
specific
advantages that cannot be achieved
usi
ng a physical admixture of the same
combination of excipients. This review
article discusses the advantages of co
-processing, the need of co
-processed excipient, general steps in developing co
-processed excipient, limitation
of co
-processed excipient, tech
nologies used in developing
co
-processing
excipients, co
-processed excipients in the literature, marketed products
and
future trends
. With advantages offered by the
upcoming
newer combination of excipients and newer
methods of co
-processing, co
-processed
excipients are for
sure going to gain attraction both from academia and pharmaceutical industry. Furthermore, it opens the
opportunity
for
development and
use of single multifunctional excipient
rather than multiple excipients in
the
formulation
.