In 2015, the Shin-Etsu Pharma and Food Materials Distribution (PFMD) application laboratory was looking to expand its capability for small scale tablet development to improve the technical support to its customers for solid dosage formulations.
The company required a single-punch tablet press to assess the performance of its excipients.
Dr Andreas Sauer, Technical Manager for Shin-Etsu, Germany rented a D series Gamlen powder compaction analyser and following successful trials, the company invested in an instrument in December 2016.
Dr Sauer commented: “We were interested in the D series instrument as it is more versatile than a hydraulic single station tablet press. In particular, we find the controlled compaction conditions and the data recording very useful. Compression, ejection, and detachment data can be measured with precision accuracy but at the same time the machine is easy to operate.”
Michael Gamlen, Managing Director of Gamlen Instruments (the new trading name of Gamlen Tableting) said: “The D Series offers users complete versatility at a cost unmatched by other instrumentation available on the market. For researchers who are looking to experiment with tablet formulations, the D series provides complete analysis of the compaction process, punch position and ejection force.”
The Gamlen range of powder compaction analyser instruments have been purchased by companies and institutions globally and can be used for material characterisation, pre-formulation, formulation and process development, quality by design (QbD) for tablets and quality control (QC) of incoming application programme interfaces (APIs) and excipients. Data generated can be directly translated to the production situation.
