Active pharmaceutical ingredient milling

Fisher E. 2006. Milling of active pharmaceutical ingredients. In Encyclopedia of pharmaceutical technology, 3rd ed. Informa Healthcare 2339-2351. 

Felmet, K. Olsofsky, M. Robertson, S. Starbuck, C. Tom, J. Tung, H.-H. Wang, J. An evaluation of cavitation milling to achieve particle size reduction of active pharmaceutical ingredients. AIChE Annual Meeting, Reno, Nevada, November, 2001. 

The generation of nano- and micrometric material can be generally achieved using two different approaches the bottom-up and the top-down approach. Especially in the pharmaceutical field, bottom-up processes are favored as the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) often consists of sensitive compounds and milling, for example, would place too much thermal and mechanical stress on the processed material. 

Keywords Active pharmaceutical ingredients Ball mills Cocrystals Grinding ... 

Tablets and other drug formulations often comprise the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) and pharmacologically inert carrier substances, or excipients, which bind, stabilize, and assist absorption of the drug by the body, or simply add bulk to APIs in low dosages. Common excipients are inorganic phosphates and organic compounds such as lactose, cellulose, and polyethylene glycol. Particle size reduction by micronization or milling can provide the energy to transform an API into undesirable polymorphs or...

Confectioner s sugar is not widely used in pharmaceutical formulations because the poor-flow characteristics prevent its use in direct-compression blends. However, confectioner s sugar is used when a smooth mouth feel or a rapidly dissolving sweetener is required, and when a milled/micronized active ingredient must be blended with a diluent of similar particle size for powders or wet granulations. 

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