The development of a quality pharmaceutical tablet product is a complex process, involving informed decisions on the type and amount of excipients and several process parameters.  Owning to the level of complexity, tablet development has been empirical.  Generally, a significant amount of active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) and a long time is required before a scalable formulation is identified. Unfortunately, problems during manufacturing still occur frequently for such empirically developed tablet formulations.  In contrast, formulation development guided by Materials Science Tetrahedron (MST) is efficient.  Robust tablet formulation and manufacturing process can be developed quickly and using a small amount of API.  The MST guided approach starts from identifying problems that affect tablet quality. Structural origin of each problem is then understood and appropriate engineering strategies are developed to modify structure.  This talk will discuss, with examples, how integrated materials science and engineering can be applied to attain an expedited development of robust tablet formulations.

Changquan Calvin Sun, Ph.D.

Dr. Sun is Distinguished McKnight University Professor and Associate Department Head at the Department of Pharmaceutics, University of Minnesota (UMN). He received a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutics from UMN in 2000. After working in the pharmaceutical industry for 8 years, he returned to UMN as an Assistant Professor. Dr. Sun’s research focuses on formulation development of tablet products through appropriate application of materials science and engineering principles, including 1) crystal and particle engineering for superior powder flow and compaction properties, as well as stability and dissolution performance of tablets; 2) understanding and control of common pharmaceutical unit operations, e.g., blending, granulation, and tableting. He has published over 250 papers in these areas (total 14,832 citations, H-index = 66 as of 08/25/2024). Dr. Sun currently serves on the editorial board for CrystEngComm and editorial advisory boards for J. Pharm. Sci., Int. J. Pharm., Molecular Pharmaceutics, AAPS Open, Pharm. Res., Crystals, and Tablets and Capsules. He has served on the Expert Committee in Physical Analysis, United States Pharmacopeia, since 2010. Dr. Sun is a fellow of the AAPS, AAAS, and RSC. Dr. Sun has also received recognition for his outstanding contributions to the field of pharmaceutics. Among his many honors, he was awarded the 2022 David J. W. Grant NIPTE Distinguished Scholar Award in Basic Pharmaceutics, and the 2019 IPEC Ralph Shangraw Memorial Award. These awards highlight Dr. Sun's exceptional talent and dedication, as well as his significant impact on the field of pharmaceutics.