Direct Compression is Fast -
but is your Excipient Strategy Holding You Back?

In today’s pharmaceutical landscape, speed matters. With growing pressure to shorten development timelines and accelerate time-to-market, direct compression (DC) has become the formulation method of choice for many manufacturers.

And it’s easy to see why:

-       Fewer process steps

-       No need for granulation and rate limiting drying

-       Simple scale-up and less process validation and cost-efficient

But despite its simplicity, many teams still face challenges in formulation and production – slower-than-expected tableting speeds, poor content uniformity, unexpected sticking or capping. We often look to equipment settings, process tweaks, or API behavior for answers.

Yet there’s another potential  bottleneck no one’s talking about: your excipient strategy!

The hidden weak link in fast manufacturing

Direct compression might be straightforward in theory, but in practice, its success is highly dependent on excipient performance. Unlike wet granulation, DC offers less room to “fix” poor powder behavior – which means your choice of excipients can make or break the process.

Here are few common – and often overlooked- issues:

-       Inconsistent flowability: Powders that don’t flow properly may slow down the feeder, cause weight variation, and increase downtime.

-       Poor compressibility: Even if flow is acceptable, poor binding can lead to weak tablets, lamination, or sticking.

-       Incompatibility with APIs: Some excipients interact with the API, compromising stability or performance.

All of this means lost time, reformulation cycles, and unnecessary complexity in what should be a fast, efficient process.

What’s the Solution?

It starts with rethinking how we select and source excipients. Instead of defaulting to standard options, formulators need to prioritize:

-       Excipients optimized for DC

-       Suppliers who offer deep technical support and consistency

-       Functionality screening  during excipient selection – not just after problems occur

This proactive approach allows teams to anticipate risks, enhance robustness, make use of purpose designed, innovative DC excipients and take full advantage of the efficiencies and speed that DC promises.

Let’s talk about the bottleneck – and how to eliminate it

At Barentz, we work closely with formulation scientists, procurement teams, and operations managers to address this hidden bottleneck. Whether it’s improving tablet uniformity or scaling up faster, the excipient strategy is where real transformation begins.

Because when it comes to direct compression, your excipients shouldn’t be holding you back – they should be pushing you forward.