Sugar Coating in Pharmaceutical Industry
I will talk about the old classic method of Sugar coating:
It is to change the bad taste of the to easy of swallowing, and the coating can reach 50% of the weight of the tablet, because there are some products that completely change the shape of the tablet.
Stages of the Suger coating process:
Firstly, sealing:
At this stage, the tablet is isolated, protected from water later, the active substance is protected, and also hardness is given to the tablet because the Suger coating process takes a long time and at a high pan speed.
Materials used in the sealing process-
It is possible to use an organic polymer + alcohol solution. You can also use some materials such as oppagloss 7150+talc
It is very possible to replace the sealing stage with a stage called isolation, and in this stage gelatin or gum acacia is used..
Secondly, subcoating:
At this stage, the shape of the tablets is gradually changed by gradually increasing the spray rate. This stage is one of the most important stages and must be done properly.
Materials used for subcoating solution-
p.w+sucrose+Peg+gelatin+tio2+talc..
Thirdly, smoothing:
The surface of the tablets after the Subcoating stage is not smooth and has roughness, and the surface of the tablets must be smoothed to distribute the color properly in the next stage.
Fourthly, coloring:
At this stage, the color is given by dissolving the color in a simple syrup solution. Mostly, the solution is sprayed manually and requires great skill . if the color is dark, like the picture in the post, the color is graded to avoid color variation.
Finally, polishing:
The tablets are polished using many materials, the most famous of which are Carnueba wax or Opaggloss 6000.
Sugar coat is not available in factories because of its long time and because it takes a lot of effort and requires great skill from the technician, and some companies have begun to resort to easier methods such as sugar film coat.
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Resource Person: Shady Mansour
