GLIMPSE OF PHARMACEUTICAL COATING PROCESSES

Manuscript aims to furnish glimpse on coating processes (CoPr). The coating is the process of applying coating materials (CoMa) onto the substrate surface (S-S). With time and space dimension of CoPr, that upraised as sugar-coating (S-C) expanded to film-coating (F-C) and specialized one. Lengthy and wearisome processing and skilled operators issues inherited to S-C spring-up F-C and its improvement from non-aqueous F-C to aqueous film-coating (AF-C). Non-aqueous film-coating processes (F-CP) make use of a volatile organic solvent (VOS) while AF-C processes uses aqueous solvent (AS), as a solvent system for coating formulations (C-F). VOS is preferred over AS in F-CP, and momentum for using AS has been accelerating from past few decades. Issues from VOS’s use upraised relating to safety; worker hygiene & safety; toxicity; environmental pollution; etc. These upraised issues intensified, thus, nowadays, AF-C processes are replacing VOS-based F-CP. Later on, finding the novelty of coating and CoPr thru coating of particulates became another dimension of expansion. This involves modification and/or alteration in innate properties of particulates, chemically and/or physically, thru coating, is for find their worthy attributes and functionalities. This dimensional expansion exploits the applicability of the dry-coating process (D-CP) and wet-coating process (W-CP). D-CP comprises novel and specialized CoPr based on novel technologies while W-CP comprises conventional and novel CoPr. Some state-of-art CoPr are AF-C process, hot-melt coating (H-MC) process, electrical-electrostatic deposition process, gas-/vapor-phase process, aerosolized CoPr, photo-curable CoPr, Resonant acoustic CoPr, thermal and mechanical process, thermo-mechanical CoPr, fluidized-bed processes, Supercell^® CoPr, etc. CoPr and its dimensional expansion briefed for updating professionals.