Pillforming

Pillforming, commonly described as tablet making or tabletting, is the process of converting a powder blend into a solid dosage form known as a tablet or pill. It is a central unit operation in pharmaceutical manufacturing and is also applied to nutraceuticals and veterinary medicines. The goal is to produce a stable, accurately dosed, and physically robust dosage form that dissolves appropriately for therapeutic effect.

The process typically involves selecting a blend of active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) and excipients, such as binders, fillers, disintegrants, lubricants, and sometimes disintegrants and coatings. Common methods include direct compression, wet granulation, dry granulation, and extrusion-spheronization. Direct compression compresses powders directly into tablets, while granulation methods create granules to improve flow and compressibility. Roller compaction is a dry granulation technique used for moisture- or heat-sensitive materials. Tablet production usually requires granulation or conditioning steps, mixing, lubrication, compression in a tablet press, and optional coating.

Common tablet types include standard tablets, chewable tablets, effervescent tablets, film-coated tablets, and sugar-coated tablets. Coatings and formulation choices influence taste, stability, disintegration, and dissolution rates.

Quality control is essential and typically includes weight variation, content uniformity, hardness or crushing strength, friability, disintegration, and dissolution testing, as well as visual inspection and moisture measurement. Compliance with good manufacturing practices (GMP) and regulatory standards governs all stages, from raw material specifications to batch documentation.

Challenges in pillforming include ensuring content uniformity, preventing capping or lamination during compression, controlling moisture sensitivity, and achieving consistent disintegration and bioavailability, especially during scale-up from development to production.