Pustaka Ilmiah Universitas Padjadjaran

Abstrak

Starch as Pharmaceutical Excipient

It is very well known that none of pharmaceutical preparations either for internal or external use can be manufactured withoutexcipients. Excipient is defined as any substance other than active drug or pro-drug that is included in the manufacturing process oris contained in finished pharmaceutical dosage forms. Selecting best excipients, however, requiring a balance between time and costefficiencies as well as anticipated product performance. Starch is one of the traditional excipients used in the manufacture oftablets. Chemically, starches are polysaccharides, composed of a number of monosaccharides or sugar (glucose) molecules linkedtogether with a-d-(1-4) and/or a-d-(1-6) linkages. Starch has been investigated as an excipient in novel drug delivery systems fornasal, oral, periodontal, and other site-specific delivery systems. Depending on the application, specific starches are available for useas disintegrants, fillers or binders. As a result of its partial cold water solubility, starch functions exceptionally well in tabletmanufacture by wet granulation applications and performs dual functions of both a disintegrant and a binder. In capsule fillingprocesses, Starch and Star Cap Co-Processed Starch Excipients function as effective binders. As a result of its partial cold watersolubility, starch functions exceptionally well in tablet manufacture by wet granulation applications and performs dual functions ofboth a disintegrant and a binder. In capsule filling processes, Starch function as effective binders. Starch is also one of the mostcommonly used tablet disintegrants at concentrations of 3–15% w/w. However, unmodified starch does not compress well andtends to increase tablet friability and capping if used in high concentrations. As a diluent, starch is used to facilitate subsequentmixing or blending processes in manufacturing operations.