CRYSTALLO-CO-AGGLOMERATION: A NOVEL TECHNIQUE TO IMPROVE FLOW AND COMPRESSIBILITY

Crystallo-co-agglomeration is a particle design technique in which a drug is crystallized and agglomerated with an excipient or another drug, which may or may not be crystallized in same system. The various parameters optimized were type, amount and mode of addition of bridging liquid, temperature and agitation speed. They were characterized for micrometritic properties (particle size and shape, flowability, packability, bulk density, wettability and compressibility). The prepared spherical crystals with different polymers exhibited excellent physicochemical properties like flowability, pack ability and wettability compared with the pure drug. The process is simple and inexpensive enough for scaling upto a commercial level. It reduces time and cost by enabling faster operation, less machinery and fewer personnel. Keywords: Crystallo-co-agglomeration, flowability, compressibility, bioavailability