Objective(s): This study evaluates the effect of substitution of microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) with ethylcellulose (EC) on mechanical and release characteristics of theophylline pellets. Materials and Methods: The effect of addition of EC was investigated on characteristics of pellets with varying drug content prepared by extrusion-spheronization. Also the effect of type of granulating liqui...

Furosemide is a class IV biopharmaceutical classification system drug having poor water solubility and low bioavailability due to the hepatic first-pass metabolism and has a short half-life of 2 h. To overcome the above drawback, this study was carried to prepare and evaluate the pellets containing furosemide solid dispersion (SD) for oral administration prepared by extrusion/spheronization. SD...

In pharmaceutical industries, pellets are multiparticulate dosage form which was formed by the agglomeration of fine powdered excipient and drugs together that leads to the formation of small free flowing spherical or semi spherical particles. This technique is called as pelletization process. Pellets are typically varied between 500-1500 μm in size for pharmaceutical applications. It is of gre...

The rheological properties of wet powder masses used in the preparation of pharmaceutical pellets by extrusion/spheronization were evaluated utilizing capillary and rotational rheometers. A ram extruder was used as a capillary rheometer to construct flow and viscosity curves for each wet mass under different extrusion rates and die geometry. As a result, shear thinning behavior was observed for...

Rajesh Gandhi, PhD, is a senior research scientist in Ranbaxy Research Laboratories (Gurgaon, India), Yasvanth Ashokraj is a doctoral student, Chaman Lal Kaul, PhD, is the director of the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), and Ramesh Panchagnula, PhD, is a professor and head of the Department of Pharmaceutics, NIPER, Sector 67, S.A.S. Nagar (Punjab) 160062 Indi...

The aim of this study was to develop a pH responsive enteric coated extended release multiparticulate dosage form containing a model drug ketoprofen, a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug used for rheumatoid arthritis. The drug loaded pellets in matrix form were prepared by using extrusion/spheronization method. The optimized pelletization method revealed that extrusion using 1 mm sieve plate a...