Abstract

Excipients form an integral part of pharmaceutical formulations. They are necessary for overall ‘completeness’ of dosage forms irrespective of their physical nature (solid, semisolid, liquid, powder etc.) and route of administration (oral, topical, rectal, ocular, parenteral etc.) These excipients perform the functions in various capacities and their role change with change in nature of formulations. Solid orals require diluents, binders, lubricants etc; liquids require humectants, emulsifiers, surfactants, suspending agents etc; semisolids require ointment/cream base, antioxidants etc; all of which require preservatives in common. But at the same time, no single excipient is ideal or perfect with respect to its assigned role. This resulted in hunt for an ‘ideal excipient’ or conveniently combine the two or more excipients to form a new one having properties of both combined together in a single entity. The current work presented deals with co-processed excipients in powdered form obtained by spray drying. One of the excipients is extracted from natural source which is then processed with another physically to alter the flow properties. Detailed physical evaluation indicated improved flow properties when two agents were co-processed using spray drying. This was confirmed by its use in formulations and subsequent evaluation tests of dosage form prepared.