Coating defect
Picking and sticking
Tablets adhere to each other or to the pan, and fragments of film or core pull away, leaving pitted faces.
Written by the Rglax Pharma technical team, who formulate and manufacture every grade named on this guide at our WHO-GMP works in Tahliwal, Una (drug manufacturing licence NNZ/23/238). Reviewed 3 September 2026. Licences and certificates.
What usually sits behind it
- The bed is wetter than the drying can carry
- Spray rate ahead of inlet temperature and air volume
- A tacky film at the bed temperature being run
- A hygroscopic active pulling moisture in before coating even starts
Worth knowing
Where the trouble starts on the press rather than in the pan, the moisture is in the powder and an adsorbent addresses it earlier than any coating change can.
Every cause above is a process parameter, not a property of the material. If you are seeing picking and sticking on a grade of ours, send us the run conditions and a retained sample and we will work back from them — start at the contact page.
Grades formulated against it
Where picking and sticking is the problem the grade was made for
Hygroscopic adsorbent material
Holds moisture off hygroscopic actives during compression and afterwards.
HR100 is a hygroscopic adsorbent material for hygroscopic drugs. It works effectively on Sodium Valproate, L-Carnitine, Valproate Sodium and other actives that pick up moisture and create problems during compression and afterwards.
- Base ·
- Dry blend
- Finish ·
- Excipient blend
- Formulated against ·
- Sodium Valproate, L-Carnitine, Valproate Sodium
Read next
- Spray rate calculatorPicking follows a bed that is wetter than it can dry between passes.
- Logo bridgingThe film lifts out of an embossed logo or break line and spans across it, so the debossing goes shallow or disappears.
- Orange peel and roughnessA dimpled, matt surface rather than a smooth gloss, most visible under raking light.
- Colour variationShade differs tablet to tablet within a batch, or between batches that were meant to match.
- All 7 coating defectsThe whole list, with what each one looks like and the parameter behind it.