The development of any tablet has to focus on the successful resolution of two key areas:

A typical tablet development programme would consist of the following stages:

1. Confidentiality
As a contract manufacturer Stonehouse Tablet are privy to a vast array of corporate information, not in the public domain. Thus it is perfectly normal for Stonehouse Tablet to enter into a formal Confidentiality Agreement, which protects the interests of both parties.

2. Initial Brief
The client and Stonehouse Tablet would meet to discuss the Project Brief, potential obstacles etc. Typically the client would provide Stonehouse Tablet with: details of the ‘active ingredient'; health & safety considerations of the ‘active' ingredient; the ideal dose of ‘active' per tablet; whether the tablet is soluble or not; if it is soluble - whether it is to be fast or slow dissolving.

3. Initial Trials
These are conducted on our specialist ‘trials' press, which allows us to manufacture good quality tablets a few at a time. Thus it is possible to try a mass of differing formulations, until a formulation is arrived at which meets the customers Project Brief AND that Stonehouse Tablet believe is suitable for mass product.

4. Production Trials
Once the customer has approved a trial formulation, the next stage is to scale up to a full production scenario, albeit only on a very small scale (typically 150kg of blended powder). This allows the customer to ascertain that the consistency of the tablets is suitable, as well as giving Stonehouse Tablet the opportunity of evaluating the suitability of a particular formulation for tablet mass production. Although the production trials allow us to make a more comprehensive assessment of the suitability of the formulation for long term manufacture, we cannot guarantee that a successful production trial will ensure long term production, although the chances of this not being the case are extremely slim.