Differentiating Generic versus Branded Pharmaceutical Tablets Using Ultra-High-Resolution Optical Coherence Tomography

Non-Destructive Subsurface Inspection of Marine and Protective Coatings Using Near- and Mid-Infrared Optical Coherence Tomography

Near- and mid-infrared optical coherence tomography (OCT) is evaluated as a non-destructive and non-contact reflection imaging modality for inspection of industrial and marine coatings. Near-infrared OCT was used to obtain high-resolution images (~6/2 µm lateral/axial) of hidden subsurface cracks and defects in a resin base coating, which had been exposed to high pressure and high temperature to study coating degradation in hostile environments. Mid-infrared OCT was employed for high-resolution (~15/8.5 µm lateral/axial) subsurface inspection of highly scattering marine coatings, demonstrating monitoring of wet film thickness and particle dispersion during curing of a 210 µm layer of antifouling coating, and detection of substrate corrosion through 369 µm of high-gloss alkyd enamel. Combining high-resolution and fast, non-invasive scanning, OCT is therefore considered a promising tool for studying coating performance and for industrial inspection.

The sound of tablets during coating erosion, disintegration, deaggregation and dissolution

This research aims to address a gap in our understanding of the mechanisms by which pharmaceutical tablets achieve highly reproducible and predictable drug release. The present industrial and regulatory practice is centred around tablet dissolution, i.e. what follows disintegration, yet the vast majority of problems that are found in formulation dissolution testing can be traced back to the erratic disintegration behaviour of the medicinal product. It is only due to the distinct lack of quantitative measurement techniques for disintegration analysis that this situation arises. Current methods involve costly, and time-consuming test equipment, resulting in a need for more simple, green and efficient methods which have the potential to enable rapid development and to accelerate routine solid drug formulation dissolution and disintegration testing. In this study, we present a novel approach to track several sequential tablet dissolution processes, including coating erosion, disintegration, deaggregation and dissolution using Broadband Acoustic Resonance Dissolution Spectroscopy (BARDS). BARDS, in combination with minimal usage of UV spectroscopy, can effectively track these processes. The data also show that a solid oral dose formulation has an intrinsic acoustic signature which is specific to the method of manufacture and excipient composition.