Ashland to highlight three new products at Excipient Fest Americas

Ashland to highlight three new products at Excipient Fest AmericasWILMINGTON, Del. – Controlling the release of active pharmaceutical ingredients is now more easily attainable thanks to Ashland Aqualon Functional Ingredients, a commercial unit of Ashland Inc. (NYSE: ASH). Three custom Benecel™ hypromellose (HPMC) grades that fill the current release profile gap and eliminate the need for blending are being highlighted at the Excipient Fest Americas  trade show May 10 -11 in Baltimore, Md.            

Ashland customers have said they often need to blend two or more molecular weight grades to achieve the desired target release profile for controlled release tablets. “There are a limited number of commercially available grades due to historical convention and the scale of commercial production,” said Laurie Kronenberg, new product leader, Food and Pharmaceutical, Ashland Aqualon Functional Ingredients. “Our scientists developed custom molecular weight grades for Benecel to help meet the specific therapeutic objectives for formulators, and to accommodate the wide spectrum of drug solubilities encountered in daily practice.”

Ashland’s Benecel HPMC K250 PH PRM, Benecel HPMC K750 PH PRM and Benecel HPMC K1500 PH PRM are intermediate molecular weight grade polymers that provide consistent and predictable release profiles. Minimizing release variability for pharmaceutical products is becoming of increasing importance to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Quality by Design initiative.

In addition, Ashland will display several more products at Excipient Fest including: Aquarius™ coating systems for aesthetic and functional coating solutions; Klucel™ hydroxypropylcellulose, the premier binder for difficult-to-make tablets; and Benecel™ hypromellose and methylcellulose polymers for thickening, binding and water retention. 

            Ashland Aqualon Functional Ingredients is a global leader in cellulose ether technology. Delivering pharmaceutical and nutraceutical performance since the 1950s, Functional Ingredients provides an unparalleled range of functional excipients for solid, semi-solid and liquid dosage forms. Ashland Aqualon Functional Ingredients creates value for its customers through applications knowledge, market insight, regulatory support and a powerful product portfolio:  Klucel™ hydroxypropylcellulose (HPC), Benecel™ methylcellulose (MC) and hypromellose (HPMC), Aquarius™ coating systems, Natrosol™ hydroxyethylcellulose (HEC), Aqualon™ ethylcellulose (EC), and Aqualon™ and  Blanose™ carboxymethylcellulose (CMC).

            To learn more about Ashland’s pharmaceutical and nutraceutical products, please visit our website at ashland.com, or call 1-877-546-2782.

            In more than 100 countries, the people of Ashland Inc. (NYSE: ASH) provide the specialty chemicals, technologies and insights to help customers create new and improved products for today and sustainable solutions for tomorrow. Our chemistry is at work every day in a wide variety of markets and applications, including architectural coatings, automotive, construction, energy, personal care, pharmaceutical, tissue and towel, and water treatment. Visit www.ashland.com to see the innovations we offer through our four commercial units – Ashland Aqualon Functional Ingredients, Ashland Hercules Water Technologies, Ashland Performance Materials and Ashland Consumer Markets (Valvoline).

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