720394Gamlen Tableting Ltd: Low cost, instrumented force- and displacementcontrolled tableting press for replication of full-scale production pharmaceutical tablets from a laboratory-scale deviceClosedGRD Development of PrototypeInnovate UKGamlen Tabletting (GT) is an SME, established in 2012 to develop an accurate, easy to use, small scale, low cost, instrumented tableting machine for the pharmaceutical industry and academia. The launch product, a 500kg load Gamlen Tablet Press (GTP) has been in the market for a year, and has been independently verified by GSK as manufacturing tablets which accurately replicate the characteristics of those from full-scale production machinery. The 500kg GTP has found use in pre-formulation studies, formulation development, process control, QC testing, teaching and R&D, where it has found widespread acceptance. Feedback from current and potential users indicates the need for higher compaction loads (to enable the compression of a wider range of powders) plus additional instrumentation to better assess powder characteristics. The 500kg GTP already operating at industry-leading tolerances; developing a larger, higher capacity machine while maintaining accuracy poses significant technical challenges to GT in terms of both construction and control. GT proposes a 15 month project to develop and demonstrate a prototype enhanced GTP. Work will focus on: • Machine improvements: to increase the load rating of the machine to more accurately replicate full-scale production processing conditions; • Bolt-on additional functionality: tablet ejection force measurement and tablet labelling modules; • Compression curve analysis: to enable the study material properties during the compression event. This will further extent utility and increase market potential; • Developing standardised powder compressibility tests: this will allow users to easily identify powders that will make high quality tablets. GT will maximise value for money by conducting aspects of the work in-house, while subcontracting tasks that are outside of current capability.