Different types of tablet coating make your product’s pharmaceutical ingredients more effective. No matter which type of tablet coating process you choose, it’s important to understand how different coating methods play a vital role in developing a quality product.
Different Coating Method Objectives
There are a variety of different coating methods that affect the medication’s result in unique ways:
Masking Taste
Many medications come with a less than desirable taste. Different coating methods are used to make the tablet more palatable and comfortable to swallow.
Physical Protection
Different coating methods also help protect ingredients from outside physical or chemical sources during distribution or transportation.
Extended-Release
Some medications are required to be released slowly and over time. The right tablet coating makes extended-release a simple process and delivers better results for the end-user.
Incorporation
Using different types of tablet coating methods makes it possible to incorporate multiple medication types into one tablet without mixing them until the proper time.
Dosage
Sometimes, a prescription advises the end-user to split the tablet and consume the pieces separately. The right tablet coating allows for the split without shattering the tablet.
Gastric Defense
Different coating methods are designed to protect the tablet from the stomach’s acidity, allowing the end-user to digest the medication and ensuring it takes full-effect.
Increased Strength
Tablets must be sturdy enough to survive the path that takes them to the end-user’s medicine cabinet. Different types of tablet coating deliver the balance of a strong product capable of surviving the rigors of travel and vulnerable enough for body absorption.
Explaining Types of Tablet Coating Processes
The tablet coating process involves making solid dose pharmaceuticals more effective and easier to ingest. While tablet coatings have the same general objectives, like masking the taste and prolonging shelf life, there are several types of tablet coating processes that coat surfaces differently:
Sugar Coating
The sugar coating process masks medication taste and gives the tablet an attractive color. Sugar coating includes a variety of tablet coating processes like sealing, sub-coating, syrup coating, coloring, and polishing.
Film Coating
The film coating process involves spraying a coating solution that includes polymer, pigments, and plasticizer into a rotating tablet bed to form a thin, uniform film on the tablet’s surface.
Active Drug Layering
The active drug layering process involves depositing the drug on the substrate’s surface. Then, an active substance is layered onto the tablet’s core using a standard coating pan. Control-release tablets often use powder coating processes for pharmaceutical production.
Extended-Release
The tablet coating process for extended-release products uses a polymer applied to the oral medication to protect it from stomach acid. The polymer makes sure that the drug takes full effect.
The Significance of a High-Quality Tablet Coating System
It’s crucial to select a tablet coating system that results in a uniform, consistent coating process.
During the process, the coating solution is sprayed onto uncoated tablets as they move into a coating pan, tablet bed, or coating drum. A thin film forms on every tablet, and any excess coating evaporates by the air passing through the tablet coater. There are single drug layer applications or multiple layers, depending on the medication.
Thomas’s Tablet Coating Systems
Thomas has a variety of tablet coating systems suitable for different types of tablet coating methods:
Thomas’s Tablet Coating Systems
Thomas has a variety of tablet coating systems suitable for different types of tablet coating methods:
FLEX 200®
Thomas’s Flex 200® is a fully integrated, recipe-driven tablet coating system with exchangeable drums. Designed with high-performance features like external gun positioning, auto unload, and the patented Thomas Spray Bar® (TSB) with Schlick ABC technology, Thomas’s FLEX 200® is suitable for film, functional, drug layer, and sugar coating materials.
FLEX 500®
Thomas’s FLEX 500® tablet coating system increases tablet coating productivity while maintaining product quality. Manufactured with its own innovative exchangeable drum design, Thomas’s FLEX 500® lowers operating costs and provides improved batch control. Our FLEX 500® is suitable for a wide range of coating materials like aqueous, organic solvents, film, modified release, active, and sugar.
FLEX 1000®
Thomas’s FLEX 1000® also features the patented TSB with external gun positioning functionality. This revolutionary tablet coating system is an excellent solution for film, functional, sugar, and drug layer coating.
FLEX CTC®
Featuring 22 spray nozzles and the industry-standard ACCELA COTA® technology in a 24-inch diameter (610 mm), fully perforated drum, Thomas’s FLEX CTC® achieves the same high performance demonstrated in our batch coaters but in less time. It also offers a maximum product volume flexibility of 100 to 1500+ kg/hr.
ACCELA CTC 500®
A smaller version of our FLEX-CTC®, Thomas’s ACCELA CTC 500® has state-of-the-art features that benefit the pharmaceutical industry on a larger scale. With shorter drums than the Flex-CTC and an impressive throughput of 500 kg/hr, our ACCELA CTC 500® is the perfect machine to produce high-quantity prescriptions and over-the-counter medications like ibuprofen and acetaminophen.
Exchangeable vs. Fixed Drum Coating Machines
At Thomas, we offer both exchangeable and fixed drum coating machines. Our FLEX tablet coating equipment is equipped with exchangeable drums, while our ACCELA models like the PRO are designed with fixed drums.
If you’re using one type of tablet coating process that doesn’t require switching between different coating methods, Thomas’s ACCELA line is the perfect solution for your tablet coating needs. If you’re transitioning between different types of tablet coating processes like film or sugar, using a tablet coating system with exchangeable drums has a variety of benefits:
Drums for Different Coating Methods
With exchangeable drum coating machines, you can dedicate specific drums to individual tablet batches. Tablet coating systems like Thomas’s FLEX line allow you to substitute five or six different drums to suit different types of tablet coating processes.
Saves Time
Exchangeable drum coating machines save you time by allowing you to quickly swap out your dedicated drums for new batches instead of cleaning individual drums between production batches.
Lowers Costs
Exchangeable drums also increase functionality and throughput with fewer coating machines, lowering production costs and increasing productivity.
Increases Batch Control
Exchangeable drum coating machines eliminate the risk of contamination, and removing the drum from the coater makes it seamless to sterilize between batches.
Providing Different Types of Tablet Coating Solutions
At Thomas, we understand the importance of different types of tablet coating solutions and how they impact your product. We’ve kept ourselves on the cutting edge of pharmaceutical tablet coating processes, and our different coating methods have become industry standards.
There are many types of coating solutions your process might require depending on your product. Thomas and our tablet coating systems support nearly every kind of coating solution available on the pharmaceutical market today. Contact us to learn more about our different types of tablet coating equipment and solutions.
