Expert interview with Marc Müller (Head of Business Development BIOGRUND GmbH) about CompactCel® DIS, the ready-to-use disintegrant premix for direct compression

What were the reasons for developing a new disintegrant premix based on natural ingredients?

For years, we have seen an increased interest in a healthy lifestyle on the consumer side. Not only in the USA, but also in Europe, consumers increasingly want to avoid chemical or synthetic ingredients and have started to pay attention to the list of ingredients in the products they buy. For example, complex chemical names of additives tend to deter nutrition-conscious consumers from buying a product. However, if they understand natural-sounding ingredients on the ingredient list, they are more likely to connect with the ingredients and their origin. This change is also known as clean labelling. Synthetic ingredients in products are increasingly being replaced by natural ones. This is currently the case for food supplements. As a result, we can meet consumer demand and offer market-driven products. We therefore develop tableting products such as binders, anti-caking agents, lubricants and disintegrants based on natural raw materials.

What challenges do your customers face?

A number of customers have established well-known nutritional supplements on the market and now have to react to the change in consumer behaviour. If the established tablet products contain chemical or synthetic disintegrants, for example, the manufacturer is now forced to replace them with natural ones. But manufacturers are also making sure that the list of ingredients on the packaging of new products, that will be launched in the future, are as natural as possible. Often, however, a 1:1 replacement of synthetic to natural disintegrant is not possible. This is why we offer CompactCel® DIS, a premix that makes it easy to reformulate the tablet.

What does CompactCel® DIS offer compared to other products/disintegrants? What are the advantages?

CompactCel® DIS has excellent swelling properties and a high water absorption capacity at the same time. It combines swelling and wicking disintegrant action in one product to achieve best possible performance. The premix has a better performance than single disintegrant materials (e.g. cellulose, starch). And, the performance can be adjusted by changing the CompactCel® DIS composition.

The figure shows the results of the water uptake and swelling tests. The water uptake capacity and the swelling capacity of the new disintegrant mixture (CC-DIS) is significantly higher than that of the cellulose and starch materials.

What natural ingredients are used in the premix formulation of CompactCel® DIS?

The disintegrant premix is formulated with natural ingredients and complies with current Clean Label standards for dietary supplements. It provides an alternative to synthetic super-disintegrants, such as crosslinked polymers, croscarmellose sodium or sodium starch glycolate. It contains a mixture of cellulose powder, potato starch, potato fibre and gellan gum.

What tests have you already carried out?

The disintegrant mixture was tested on several formulations. Generally the performance is better than that of single, natural disintegrants. In an evaluation of a new disintegrant mixture from natural resources we have gathered many results that help us to find the right natural ingredients for a good performing replacement premix.

If you are interested in the results, please download below our scientific poster, which was published at PBP Worldmeeting in April 2024 in Vienna (AT)

Of course, we also offer samples for trials and a reformulation service free of charge. Just contact us. Just enter the form below.