Co-processed excipients for direct compression of tablets

Tablets are the most frequently employed dosage form. Their advantage lies in their availability, easy administration, good stability, and low price. The easiest technology to produce tablets is direct compression, even though the use of the method requires overcoming many obstacles, mainly related to content uniformity and variation of mass, disintegration, dissolution, and radial hardness of tablets. “Co-processed excipients”, containing commonly processed blends of fillers, binders, disintegrants, lubricants, and other excipients are more and more widely used nowadays. These mixtures are manufactured by various technologies, chiefly by spray-drying, fluid bed granulation, wet granulation, melt granulation, dry granulation, and co-crystallisation. This review article lists excipients used usually to constitute co-processed excipients, technologies, and commercially available co-processed excipients for direct compression.