Cargill Pharma adds to polyol portfolio

Cargill Pharma has unveiled two polyol excipients and an extension to that range for pharmaceutical manufacturers.

The first uses Zerose erythritol as a tabletting excipient, which has unique taste-masking properties, is non-hygroscopic, non-cariogenic and has a high digestive tolerance. According to Henry Hussell, marketing manager of Cargill Pharma EMEA, it is also "officially zero calorie".

The company's Pharma Application Centre in Vilvoorde, Belgium has developed a patent-pending wet granulation process using Zerose erythritol as a diluent, making it possible to manufacture chewable tablets with excellent hardness.

Hussell says the new process is more suitable for moisture-sensitive APIs due to its use of C*PharmIsoMaltidex isomalt as a binder. Both Zerose and C*PharmIsoMaltidex isomalt are non-hygroscopic, permitting the production of tablets with a low hygroscopic profile.

The second new polyol excipient, C*PharmIsoMaltidex isomalt, is used as a diluent-binder in the tabletting process. Isomalt is widely used in medicated hard-boiled candy, due to its sweet taste, low hygroscopicity, and non-cariogenic properties.

Cargill has also developed a crystalline pharma grade of maltitol, C*PharmMaltidex CH, to complement the existing liquid offering. This polyol has a sweet taste, low hygroscopicity, and is non-cariogenic. It is ideally suited to the creation of a crunchy coating on medicated chewing gum used for nicotine replacement therapy such as Nicorette.

"We've taken an existing product and made a process simplification, thereby giving pharmaceutical manufacturers a more cost-effective way of making a tablet," said Hussell.