From powder to package, build your tablet with Ashland, the full-service solid-dosage resource

From powder to package, build your tablet with Ashland, the full-service solid-dosage resource

SCHAFFHAUSEN, Switzerland - Today's pharmaceutical industry is stepping up the pace, demanding shorter time to market and more innovation from their product developers. As a result, formulators are not only looking for more functionality in the ingredients they use, but also for a full-service resource to meet all their formulation needs.

At this year's Convention on Pharmaceutical Ingredients (CPhI) Worldwide, the industry's leading networking event, taking place in Madrid, Spain, October 9-11, Ashland Specialty Ingredients, a commercial unit of Ashland Inc. (NYSE: ASH), will present its comprehensive offering to formulators. This comprises a complete toolbox of tablet binders, disintegrants and tablet coating systems, drug solubilizers and controlled-release formulations designed to meet the requirements encountered along the path to finished products.

Ashland's exceptional range of tablet binders
Tablet binders are an essential part of the drug formulation process, affecting whether the active pharmaceutical ingredient is released into the body immediately upon ingestion or on a delayed basis.

With its Aqualon™ ethylcellulose, Benecel™ methylcellulose (MC) and hypromellose (HPMC), Klucel™ hydroxypropylcellulose HPC, and Plasdone™ povidone and S-630 copovidone, Ashland offers one of the broadest portfolios of chemistries in the industry to address binder performance needs - from wet granulation, dry granulation as well as direct compression to roller compaction and hot-melt extrusion.

Super-disintegrants and sustained release polymers
To ensure that the tablet dissolves where it should, Ashland provides a range of powerful super-disintegrants to meet formulation needs. Ashland's Polyplasdone™ super-disintegrants and state-of-the-art high purity Polyplasdone Ultra are designed to address the most challenging disintegration needs in tablet formulations, including orally dispersible tablets. In addition, Ashland offers its Klucel™ HPC and Benecel™ MC and HPMC for formulating sustained release dosage forms.

Additionally, Ashland launched a new range of custom Benecel products that make formulating for controlled-release drug profiles more consistent. In the past, formulators were often required to blend together two or more molecular-weight grades to achieve the desired target-release profile for controlled-release tablets. Now, custom molecular-weight grades of Benecel HPMC meet desired release profiles without blending.

Ashland's service profile for oral solid dosage formulation is completed by its comprehensive AquariusTM tablet film coating systems. The ready-to-use Aquarius systems offer a range of functional coating capabilities including moisture, odor and taste barriers as well as controlled-release functionality. Aquarius tablet coating systems present an ideal balance between film strength and adhesion without impacting the tablet dissolution, and are available in the full color range.

"Our superb product range is just one component of what we can do for formulators. As we manufacture all of our products, we have the polymer expertise that can really make the difference in your formulation." says John Fitzpatrick, new product leader, Pharmaceutical Specialties, Ashland Specialty Ingredients. "We have the expertise to help you select the best binder and disintegrants, the knowledge and skills to help you with solubility issues and drug release profiles, and we are experts in coatings. This is a unique offering for our clients that they are unable to find anywhere else."

To learn more about Ashland Specialty Ingredients' comprehensive pharmaceutical portfolio, visit us at the CPhI tradeshow in Madrid in hall 9, booth D65.

Ashland Specialty Ingredients offers industry-leading products, technologies and resources for solving formulation and product performance challenges in key markets including personal care, pharmaceutical, food and beverage, coatings and energy. Using natural, synthetic and semi-synthetic polymers derived from plant and seed extract, cellulose ethers and vinyl pyrrolidones, Ashland Specialty Ingredients offers comprehensive and innovative solutions for today's demanding consumer and industrial applications.

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, food and beverage, 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 Specialty Ingredients, Ashland Water Technologies, Ashland Performance Materials and Ashland Consumer Markets.

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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:
Media Relations
Jennifer Knoblach
+31 (0)10 497 5529
jknoblach@ashland.com