An Overview of Recent Patents and Patented Technology Platforms Based on Co-Processed Excipients

Background: There is no single-component excipient that fulfills all the requisite performance to allow an active pharmaceutical ingredient to be formulated into a specific dosage form. Co-processing is a novel concept that incorporates a combination of two or more excipients, that is advantageous and cannot be achieved using a physical admixture. Objective: This review provides an overview of co-processed excipients, recent patents granted and filed in this field and the commercial patented technology platforms based on these excipients. Methods: Various online patent databases were used for collecting the information on recent patents and patented co-processed excipient technologies. The recent patents such as single-step coprocessing by dry coating, novel co-processed excipients for oily drugs and novel silica-coated compositions have been discussed. Results: Co-processed excipients are evolving as a current and future trend of excipient technology in pharmaceutical manufacturing, which is evident by the increasing number of patents based on these excipients. Among various techniques, the maximum number of patents is based on the spray drying technique. Conclusion: In this work, the authors have focussed on recent patents and commercial technologies on co-processed excipient. A better understanding of this will help researchers and pharmaceutical industries to select the appropriate platform, or to develop new innovative co-processed excipients with improved tableting characteristics.