Polymers make you go faster, greener, say BASF and Colorcon

Kollicoat uses a “high-productivity polymer system​” – an ethylene glycol and vinyl alcohol graft copolymer – to create a “very white coating with a high finish,​” Colorcon’s David Bain, new MD for the EMEA region, told Outsourcing-Pharma.com.

The instant release allows fast tablet-coating, Bain said, at lower temperatures than previously, “which is excellent from an environmental perspective.​”

While staying green is of less concern to smaller customers, Colorcon’s MD said they would nevertheless be pleased with the platform’s higher productivity.

Collaboration​

Under the companies’ combined service model, BASF will continue to sell its polymer technology, but Colorcon will have exclusive global rights to distribute its pill coating formulations to the pharma and nutra industries.

The two firms have previously collaborated on Opadry film-coating systems.

Looking ahead, Bain said the company may consider tweaking the Kollicoat IR technology, “depending on need. Our focus will be evaluating it for faster processing, environmentally-friendl[iness], and colour stability.​”

Kollicoat has been monographed globally and has received GRAS (Generally Regarded As Safe) status in the US.

‘Just ASC’​

At CPHI Paris, Colorcon also announced its Just ASC initiative, an annual car maintenance-style check-up with customers to review their products.

The idea is to “simplify their raw materials testing, with the aim to reduce it, and alter lead times​” said Bain, who explained that “scaling up formulae from 5kg to 2 tonnes​” was often the cause of raw material testing delays.