Troubleshooting the Poor Flow Problem of Valsartan Drug Powder Using the Crystallo-Co-Agglomeration Technique

Cureus. 2023 May 5;15(5):e38590. doi: 10.7759/cureus.38590. eCollection 2023 May.

Abstract

Pharmaceutical tablets are a popular solid dosage form and have a significant ratio in the available solid dosage forms. They are a popular choice for patients due to the ease of administration as well as for pharmaceutical manufacturers due to the low cost of manufacturing, packaging, and other pharmaceutical parameters. However, the drug powder should either be crystalline or turned into a granular form using wet-dry granulation techniques to improve the flow and compressibility. The valsartan drug, which is commonly used as an antihypertensive drug, is an amorphous drug and has an angle of repose of more than 40º. Therefore, it needs to be converted into a granular form. This work uses the spherical crystals of the valsartan drug because they flow well and can be used for pharmaceutical tablets. Different process parameters, such as mixing speed, mixing time, and temperature, were optimized to obtain effective process parameters. The final batch of spherical crystals of valsartan had an angle of repose of 27.23º, which shows that prepared spherical crystals flow well.

Keywords: antihypertensive; crystallo-co-agglomeration; spherical crystal; tablet; valsartan.