Multivariate methods in the development of a new tablet formulation

The overall objective of this article is to use an efficient approach to find a suitable tablet formulation for direct compression. By using traditional approaches to statistical experimental design in tablet formulation, the number of experiments quickly grows when many descriptive variables or many excipients are included. To facilitate the screening process, a multivariate design, which allows a systematical evaluation of a large number of excipients with a limited number of experiments, was implemented. Formulations with acceptable values for disintegration time and crushing strength were obtained with some of the formulations in the present study. The multivariate experimental design strategy yielded PLS models that will be used to identify a region of interest for the optimization. The strategy is general and can be applied in many different areas of pharmaceutical research and development.