Tablets

• Tablets are the most frequently prescribed commercial dosage form
• Tablets are stable, elegant and effective
• Tablets provide the patient with a convenient product for handling, identification and administration
• Commercially available tablets can be made at a rate of thousands per minute
• Tablets are available only in fixed dosage strengths and combinations
• Components of the manufactured Tablet:

  • Active Ingredient: Sodium Bicarbonate
  • Disintegrant: Corn Starch
  • Binder: Acacia Powder
  • Diluent/Bulking Agent: Lactose
  • Lubricant: Talc
• Types of Tablets:

  • Sublingual molded tablets: placed under the tongue, dissolve rapidly, contain lactose and other water-soluble ingredients
  • Buccal molded tablets: administered in the cheek pouch, dissolve quickly, excipients can be manipulated for desired release rate
  • Sintered tablets: prepared to dissolve in the mouth or be swallowed, contain active drug, diluent, and meltable binder like PEG 3350
  • Compressed tablets: designed to be swallowed, prepared using large tableting machines
• • Chewable tablets: must be chewed and swallowed, pleasant tasting, contain sugars, sweetening agents, and flavoring agents
  • Soluble or effervescent tablets: contain mixtures of acids and sodium bicarbonate, release carbon dioxide when dissolved in water
  • Implants or pellets: small, sterile solid masses containing a drug with or without excipients, can be implanted by special injector or incision
• 5. Mottling: unequal color distribution on tablet surface, caused by drug color different from excipients or colored degradation products

  6. Whiskering: formation of rugged particles on tablet edge, caused by worn punches and dies or melting of crystals during compression

  7. Chipping: separation of small pieces of tablet surface after ejection
• Tablet Defects and Their Causes:

  1. Capping: partial or complete separation of the top or bottom crown from the main body of the tablet, caused by entrapment of air during processing

  2. Lamination: separation of a tablet into two or more distinct layers, also known as fissuring

  3. Picking: removal of surface material of a tablet by a punch, caused by excessive moisture or low melting temperature substances

  4. Sticking or binding: adhesion of tablet material to a die wall or lower punch, caused by excessive moisture or low melting temperature substances
• Fastest way to detect defects like chipping, capping, and fissuring is to shake tablets vigorously in cupped hands or subject them to Friability test