Evolution of cellulose in tableting technology

Beginning his presentation with an overview of his company, Suyesh Kale, Manager (Technical), JRS Pharma, mentioned about the ‘Vocal for Local’ concept launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He stated that under this concept, JRS has come up with ‘Made in India’ MCC: JRS-GMW. “This new plant is a state-of-the-art facility modelled on other international plants of JRS group, and is completely automated plant, starting from processing the raw materials to packaging the finished products. The facility is EXCIPACT-certified and is an exact replica of international plant in all aspects,” Kale informed.

He then spoke about the evolution of cellulose which began with Arbocel. He said that Arbocel is solid cellulose prepared by mechanical fragmentation. Fur- thermore, the company developed Vivapur, Emcocel, Flocel Plus and Prosolv, wherein Pro stands for problem and Solv stands for solvent. So, it’s a problem solver Silicified Micro Crystalline Cellulose (SMCC). It consists of two components –

MCC and CSD – both of these, through synergistic combination and a unique process, lead to the formation of Prosolv customer satisfaction.

Talking about Manufacturing 4.0: Packaging Shipper Transfer System with AI integration, he explained that AIbased shipper identification strengthens the product transfer system, helps in picking posts in automated warehouses, optimised order preparation areas, automatic order sorting and assembly and verification posts.

He, at last, concluded his presentation by saying, “Pharma 4.0 embeds health regulations which is a contrast to common Industry 4.0 approaches. It breaks the borders across the organisations by creating AI-based linkages between drug designs, suppliers, R&D, process verification, digital data, healthcare regulations and other stakeholders. Pharma 4.0 is not a project of Information Technology (IT) department, rather, it is a supporting function.”

SMCC, which has a unique and superior flow property and is almost dust-free. Prosolv SMCC by JRS Pharma promotes interactive blending, and, thus, content uniformity.

He then emphasised on the benefits of Prosolv SMCC in roller compaction applications, which include silicification of MCC that results in an increase in surface area, which further leads to an increase in area for binding interaction between the individual particles; and silification leading to improvement in both the flowability and re-compaction properties of compacts; among others. Apart from it, this product also offers advantages for high-doses as well as low-dosed Active Pharma Ingredients (APIs), sticky, poor-flowing, compression-sensitive, baddissolving and hygroscopic APIs.