Maximize Tablet Finish for a Unique & Elegant Tablet Design
June 14, 2019
Creating a distinctive pharmaceutical tablet in today’s pharmaceutical industry has increasingly become a necessity. Demand for tablets with unique and elegant design is growing as brand owners look to capitalize on the advantages that a distinctive product appearance can deliver.
What are the advantages of upgrading your tablet’s appearance?
- Patient Compliance
Tablet size, shape, appearance, and swallowability all play an important role in ensuring patient compliance. Difficulties swallowing a prescription medication can cause patients not to comply with prescription drug regimens – leading to higher medical costs and poor health outcomes. More patient-centric designs can help promote adherence to dosing regimens.
- Enhanced Brand Identity
Some tablets are instantly recognizable and easily differentiated from other medications. Pfizer’s VIAGRA brand, for example, has a very distinctive look and feel made possible by the tablet’s color, shape and finish.
Why is The Tablet Finish So Important?
Tablets not only come in various shapes and sizes, but also in a spectrum of finishes. Ideally, tablets should be easy to recognize with a high quality appearance. Questions for brand owner to address include:
- Is the tablet rough and granular-looking or smooth; and how to improve?
- Is it glossy, and – if so – how glossy?
- Are there other effects (e.g., shading or hues) in the finish which help differentiate from other tablets?
However, tablet finish contributes more than just appearance. It can create better consumer experiences, translating into improved patient adherence and enhanced brand awareness.
Achieving a High-Quality Finish
For manufacturers, coating systems should be easy to work with, seamless to implement, and economically efficient to deliver excellent batch-to-batch quality.
When it comes to pharmaceutical tablet finish, two of our specialty coatings: Opadry® QX and Opadry® fx™, address ease of use across various equipment while delivering a competitive edge for finish.
Opadry® QX, Quick and FleXible Coating
Opadry QX is an easy-to-prepare fully formulated system designed for use across a broad range of process parameters – and in virtually any type of coating equipment. It delivers a premium quality finish – and offers the widest possible processing latitude.
How easy is it to use?
Opadry QX sets new productivity, efficiency and appearance standards for coated tablets, and with a solids level of up to 35%, you can reduce coating time by at least 40%.
The fast to prepare, low viscosity dispersion results in faster processing without compromising coating uniformity. Even with limited air flow, the coating delivers a consistently smooth and glossy tablet finish. Opadry QX is also perfect for temperature-sensitive APIs & drug formulations through the use of lower tablet bed temperatures.
With interest in continuous processing growing in the pharma space, a study evaluated:
- Effects of coating parameters on visual color uniformity, smoothness and elegant tablet appearance
- Comparison of the gloss of the tablets versus those coated using a traditional batch process
This study found that quality finish tablets were obtained across all parameters in the continuous coater, supporting the use of Opadry QX on a continuous coating line.
Opadry® fx™, Special Effects Film Coating System
Designed to improve branding and added value through a more elegant finish, Opadry® fx™ is an aqueous film coating system which imparts a pearlescent and lustrous finish. It can be used to create a wide number of shades and hues along with high levels of gloss. This allows brands to create a clear differentiation between tablets using color alongside special effects.
Opadry fx systems are ready formulated with pearlescent pigments incorporated into high gloss, clear formulations. The coatings are easy to use, clean with water, and – since they are applied with standard film coating equipment and techniques – manufacturers can capitalize on their existing infrastructure.
Opadry fx is an attractive alternative when compared to other high gloss techniques because the special effects are evident at low application levels, with optimal pearlescence established at a nominal cost per dosage.
Demand Continues for an Elegant Tablet Finish
The addition of coatings provides smoothness and gloss to maximize pharmaceutical tablet appearance and finish. These two Colorcon coating solutions help manufacturers substantially reduce their cost-per-dosage and simplify implementation by leveraging existing equipment and know-how. No matter which Colorcon fully formulated coating system you choose to use, we ensure you identify the optimal processing parameters to ensure a consistently high-quality coating; batch after batch.
Connect with Colorcon to talk tablet finish and special coating effects.
