From Oral Film Development to Manufacturing
Create uniform pharmaceutical films with a coating process that supports both laboratory research and commercial scale-up.
Develop Uniform, Scalable Oral Film Formulations with Precise Coating Control
Oral thin films are gaining attention as patient-friendly alternatives to tablets and capsules. Their rapid dissolution, ease of administration, and potential for precise dosing make them attractive for pediatric, geriatric, and fast-acting therapies.
However, producing high-quality oral films requires careful control of the coating process.
Common development challenges include:
Uniform film thickness
Consistent API distribution
Reliable dose accuracy
Reproducible film performance
A clear path to manufacturing scale-up
While many projects begin with solvent casting or manual coating methods, these approaches can become challenging as formulations advance. Slot-die coating offers a precise and scalable solution, enabling uniform film deposition, efficient material use, and reproducible results from research through manufacturing.
Oral Thin Film Multilayer Architecture Example
Modern oral thin films can contain multiple functional layers, each designed to improve drug delivery, patient experience, or product performance. While not every formulation includes all of the layers shown below, multilayer structures are increasingly explored for applications such as taste masking, controlled release, and enhanced drug absorption.
Protective Layer: Protects the film from moisture, handling, and environmental exposure while improving durability.
Taste-Masking Layer: Reduces unpleasant taste and improves the patient experience during administration.
Drug Layer (API): Contains the active pharmaceutical ingredient and delivers the therapeutic effect.
Controlled-Release Layer: Controls how quickly the drug is released and absorbed after administration.
Mucoadhesive Layer: Helps the film adhere to oral tissue, increasing contact time and absorption.
Release Liner: A temporary carrier film used during manufacturing and removed before use.
Why Researchers Are Turning to Slot-Die Coating
As oral thin film technologies become more advanced, researchers require coating processes that can deliver consistent quality while supporting future scale-up. Slot-die coating provides precise control over film deposition and is increasingly used for pharmaceutical films, transdermal patches, and advanced drug delivery systems.
Key benefits include:
Uniform film thickness and API distribution
Improved dose accuracy and reproducibility
Efficient use of valuable APIs and materials
Support for multilayer film architectures
Reduced process variability
Compatibility with cleanroom and controlled environments
A clear pathway from research to manufacturing
Ready for Roll-to-Roll Manufacturing
Many oral thin film projects begin at laboratory scale but ultimately require a manufacturing process capable of producing large quantities of consistent product.
Unlike many traditional coating methods, slot-die coating is already widely used in roll-to-roll manufacturing. Formulations developed using slot-die coating can therefore be transferred more easily from laboratory research to pilot production and commercial manufacturing.
By combining precise coating control with continuous processing, roll-to-roll manufacturing enables high throughput, excellent reproducibility, and efficient large-scale production of oral thin films and other pharmaceutical products.
Novo Nordisk Uses Slot-die Coating for Next-Generation GLP-1 Drug Delivery
Researchers from Novo Nordisk and the Technical University of Denmark used an infinityPV Slot-die Coater to develop multilayer buccal films for needle-free GLP-1 delivery. The technology enabled precise coating of mucoadhesive, drug-loaded, and protective layers, supporting controlled drug release and scalable manufacturing of advanced oral film formulations.
Why Slot-Die Coating Is Well Suited for Oral Thin Films
Oral thin films require precise control over film thickness, drug loading, and layer uniformity. Small variations can influence dose accuracy, dissolution performance, and patient outcomes.
Unlike conventional coating methods that rely heavily on operator technique, slot-die coating meters the formulation before it reaches the substrate. This enables highly reproducible film deposition and allows researchers to achieve consistent coating thickness across the entire film width.
For oral thin film development, this level of control can improve process reliability while reducing variability between batches.
Reduce API Waste During Formulation Development
Many oral film formulations contain valuable active pharmaceutical ingredients that are available only in limited quantities during early-stage development.
Traditional coating methods can consume significant amounts of material during optimization and process setup. Slot-die coating applies a controlled volume of formulation directly to the substrate, helping researchers use materials more efficiently while minimizing waste.
This can be particularly valuable when screening formulations or working with expensive APIs and novel drug candidates.
From Laboratory Research to Continuous Manufacturing
One of the major challenges in oral thin film development is ensuring that laboratory-scale processes can eventually be transferred to manufacturing.
Because slot-die coating is already widely used in continuous roll-to-roll production, researchers can develop formulations using a coating technology that is directly relevant to future scale-up.
This reduces the gap between formulation development and commercial manufacturing, helping teams establish scalable processes earlier in the development cycle.
Bridging Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturing
We help researchers and pharmaceutical innovators develop uniform, reproducible oral thin films through advanced slot-die coating and roll-to-roll processing technologies. Our laboratory equipment bridges the gap between formulation development and scalable manufacturing, enabling precise coating control for next-generation drug delivery systems.
Peer-Reviewed Studies Within Pharma Featuring infinityPV Equipment
Comparing Oral Thin Film Coating Methods
Solvent casting remains one of the most common methods for developing oral thin films in research environments. However, as projects advance, researchers often require greater control over film uniformity, material usage, reproducibility, and scalability. The comparison below highlights some of the key differences between traditional solvent casting and slot-die coating.
| Feature | Solvent Casting | Doctor Blade / Knife Coating | Spin Coating | Slot-Die Coating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Film Uniformity | Moderate | Good | Excellent | Excellent |
| Thickness Control | Moderate | Good | Excellent | Excellent |
| Material Efficiency | Moderate | Good | Poor | Excellent |
| Reproducibility | Moderate | Good | Good | Excellent |
| Multilayer Films | Limited | Limited | Difficult | Excellent |
| Scale-Up Potential | Limited | Moderate | Poor | Excellent |
| Continuous Manufacturing | No | Limited | No | Yes |
| Roll-to-Roll Compatibility | No | Limited | No | Yes |
| API Material Utilization | Moderate | Good | Poor | Excellent |
| Manufacturing Relevance | Low | Moderate | Low | High |
Which Coating Solution Fits Your Needs?
Every oral thin film formulation presents unique challenges. Whether you're optimizing drug loading, improving film uniformity, developing multilayer structures, or preparing for scale-up, selecting the right coating process is critical. We're here to help you achieve reproducible results and accelerate the path from formulation development to manufacturing.
Inline Slot-die Coating
Flexible substrates move continuously through coating, drying, and laminating stations under precise tension. Ensures high throughput, uniform layers, and reproducible results.
Wet-On-Wet Slot-die Coating
Two slot-dies apply wet layers consecutively without drying. Controlled spacing and speed create multilayer films with consistent thickness and adhesion.
Pristine Clean Surface Cleaning
Functional coatings are applied immediately after liner removal onto an untouched, contamination-free surface. This method improves adhesion, reduces defects, and enhances reproducibility—especially when combined with cleanroom environments for sensitive pharma films or biomedical devices.
We’re Here to Help You Find the Right System
Choosing the right slot-die or roll-to-roll coating system for your pharmaceutical application can feel complex. Whether it’s tablets, capsules, patch films, packaging, or medical devices, we’re ready to guide you — helping you select the machine that delivers precise, reproducible, and scalable results.
Slot-die Coater
Ideal for lab research, prototyping, and small-batch production. Sheet-based processing allows flexible testing, parameter adjustments, and precise coatings in limited quantities.
Laboratory Roll-to-Roll Coater
Best for scaling lab results to continuous, high-throughput production. Ensures uniform, consistent coatings on long substrates and supports transition to larger-scale manufacturing.
R2R Hybrid Coater
Combines sheet-based precision with roll-to-roll efficiency. Offers maximum flexibility for lab-scale thin film processing—from early formulation work to pilot-scale production.
Frequently Asked Questions
-
Slot-die coating is a precision coating method used to deposit uniform layers of pharmaceutical formulations onto a moving substrate. The process enables accurate control of film thickness, drug loading, and layer uniformity, making it well suited for oral thin film development and manufacturing.
-
While solvent casting is widely used for early-stage research, slot-die coating offers greater control over coating thickness, reproducibility, material utilization, and scalability. It is also compatible with continuous manufacturing processes used in industrial production.
-
Yes. Slot-die coating is increasingly used for oral thin films, buccal films, sublingual films, and other advanced drug delivery systems that require precise coating control and consistent drug distribution.
-
Oral thin films are thin, flexible dosage forms that dissolve or adhere within the mouth to deliver medication. They are commonly explored for pediatric medicines, geriatric formulations, fast-acting therapies, and needle-free drug delivery applications.
-
Oral thin films can be easier to administer, particularly for patients who have difficulty swallowing tablets. They can also provide rapid drug release, improved patient compliance, and alternative routes of drug delivery through the oral mucosa.
-
Yes. Slot-die coating can be used to create multilayer structures containing drug-loaded layers, taste-masking layers, mucoadhesive layers, controlled-release layers, and protective coatings. This enables the development of more advanced oral film formulations.
-
The process precisely meters the formulation before coating, helping maintain consistent film thickness and material distribution across the entire coating width. This can improve dose accuracy and batch-to-batch reproducibility.
-
Yes. Laboratory-scale slot-die coating systems are widely used for formulation development, process optimization, material screening, and scale-up studies. Researchers can develop processes using a technology that is directly relevant to commercial manufacturing.
-
Yes. Because the formulation is accurately metered during coating, slot-die coating can significantly reduce material waste compared with some traditional laboratory coating methods. This is especially beneficial when working with expensive or limited-availability APIs.
-
Yes. Slot-die coating is widely used in roll-to-roll manufacturing environments and is considered one of the key enabling technologies for continuous thin-film production.
-
Slot-die coating can be used for fast-dissolving films, buccal films, sublingual films, mucoadhesive films, controlled-release films, multilayer drug delivery systems, and other advanced pharmaceutical film formulations.
-
Yes. Multiple peer-reviewed studies have demonstrated the use of slot-die coating for oral thin films, transdermal patches, controlled-release systems, multilayer formulations, and other pharmaceutical applications. Researchers from organizations including Novo Nordisk have also used slot-die coating in the development of advanced drug delivery systems.