Glossary

Pharmaceutical powders

This is the simplest pharmaceutical form: the powders consist of a heterogeneous group of solid, dry particles separated from each other. The particles that make up pharmaceutical powders differ in shape, which can be more or less regular, surface area and vary in size, usually between 0.5 and 1000 μm.

Pharmaceutical powders are the basis for the preparation of granules, tablets and capsules, and the composition of other pharmaceutical forms, such as, for example, suspensions, suppositories, semisolid preparations, and aspersion powder. They are prepared by crushing, grinding, and micronization: state-of-the-art techniques to reduce their size.