Impact of immediate release film coating on the disintegration process of tablets

Pharmaceutical tablets are often coated with a layer of polymeric material to protect the drug from environmental degradation, facilitate the packaging process, and enhance patient compliance. However, the detailed effects of such coating layers on drug release are not well understood. To investigate this, flat-faced pure microcrystalline cellulose tablets with a diameter of 13 mm and a thickness between 1.5 mm to 1.6 mm were directly compressed, and a film coating layer with a thickness of 80 μm to 120 μm was applied to one face of these tablets. This tablet geometry and immediate release film coating were chosen as a model system to understand how the film coating interacts with the tablet core. The coating hydration and dissolution process was studied using terahertz pulsed imaging, while optical coherence tomography was used to capture further details on the swelling process of the polymer in the coated tablet. The study investigated the film coating polymer dissolution process and found the gelling of dissolving polymer restricted the capillary liquid transport in the core. These findings can help predict the dissolution of film coating within the typical range of thickness (30 μm to 40 μm) and potentially be extended to understand modified release coating formulations.