Caleva Knowledge Base

How to Reduce Your Formulation Development Time

Written by Louise Mee | 17-Feb-2022 09:35:20

Discover how to cut your formulation development time in half with the Caleva Multi Lab and its wide range of variable density dies.

 

For R&D teams, creating a successful formulation is often a long and expensive process consisting of many lab hours of trial-and-error experiments and discarded product.

With multiple iterations costing time, money, and valuable resource, the dies and extrusion screws supplied as standard with the Caleva Multi Lab (CML) allow you to explore parameters quickly and get to your results faster.

Cut Development Time by 50%

Trials demonstrate that iterations on the Caleva Multi Lab can be completed in less than half the time required for other standard bench-top systems.

With this single compact unit, you can mix, extrude and spheronize as little as 10g of material in under 15 minutes and be ready for your next iteration in less than half an hour

Find out more about the Caleva Multi Lab, or contact us for a quote.

 

Explore More Parameters

With two dies and two screws supplied as standard, the Caleva Multi Lab enables you to quickly investigate multiple parameters in your formulation development process, increasing your chances of a successful outcome.

Supplied with Type-A and Type-B Extruder Screws

Although they look remarkably similar, the two extrusion screws supplied with the Caleva Multi Lab can perform very differently depending on your formulation.

The standard Type-A screw has space between the end of the screw shaft and the die plate. This standard screw works with most materials.

The second, Type-B screw has a longer bezel which meets the die plate. Clients have found this to be effective with more difficult to extrude materials or where the material is seen to be backing up. The Type-B screw has been particularly useful for those working with pharmaceutical products.

With the two screws supplied, the Caleva Multi Lab allows you to effectively extrude a wide range of formulations and increase your chances of development success.

Two Dies to Investigate the Effect of Extrudate Density

The density of your extrudate can affect multiple factors, such as allowing you to pack in more Active Ingredient into a single dose to create a smaller final product, alter friability characteristics, or increase the rate of dissolution.

To investigate the effects of density on your formulation without any additional cost, the Caleva Multi Lab comes with a regular 1x1mm die and a 1x4mm (deep) high density die as standard.

As the diameter of your extrudate relates to the size of your final pellet after spheronization, Caleva can also provide a wide range of additional variable density dies to meet your formulation needs.

A selection of 6 different extrusion dies for the CML (More die plates are available) 

Why Modify Pellet Density?

The density of your extrudate can have a variety of effects on your final product, including:

  • Hardness and strength
  • Porosity
  • Dissolution profile
  • Pellet uniformity
  • Drug / active ingredient loading
  • Product cohesion
  • Physical stability
  • Chemical stability

With two dies supplied as standard, and a range of additional dies available, the Caleva Multi Lab enables you to quickly and easily explore the effects of density on your final product to optimise your formulation.

A Flexible Research Tool

The two screws and two dies supplied with your Caleva Multi Lab allow you to explore multiple options in the extrusion phase of your research and development to find the most suitable combination for your materials and your desired output.

To find out more about the Caleva Multi Lab, the variety of dies available, or scale up options, contact us today.