Impacts of the High Moisture Wet Granulation and Novel Microwave Drying on the Textural Characteristics of Pharmaceutical Particles

Naproxen sodium is a common non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug used as a painkiller or in the therapy of rheumatoid and arthritic diseases. Naproxen sodium is a dipole drug with high affinity towards the water. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the impacts of high moisture content due to wet granulation, and drying processes on the textural properties of naproxen sodium powder. In the present work, a new formulation of naproxen sodium drug was prepared and moisturized to 50 wt% by wet granulation process. Microwave radiation was employed to dry the high moisturized wet granules of naproxen sodium powder. Powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and scanning electron microscope (SEM) were used to characterize samples before and after wet granulation and drying. The results showed that the crystalline structure, the morphology, and the chemical groups of the dry drug powder are remarkably changed after wet granulation. Microwave drying also affected the textural properties of the dried particles with no significant change in the chemical structure.