Patent ID: 7906144

Claim:
A process for producing an excipient adapted for use in a solid pharmaceutical dosage form, wherein said excipient is in the form of a free-flowing powder and consists essentially of: a pharmaceutically acceptable polymer, wherein the polymer is a homo- or copolymer of N-vinylpyrrolidone, which is a water-soluble polymer with Fikentscher K values of from 12 to 100, and from 10 to 50% by weight, based on the total weight of said excipient, of a liquid or semisolid solubilizing surface-active substance, comprising ethoxylated sorbitan fatty acid esters, or the products of the reaction of ethylene oxide with castor oil, hydrogenated castor oil or with 12-hydroxystearic acid, said process comprising either: spray-drying a solution comprising the surface-active substance and the pharmaceutically acceptable polymer, or processing the polymer and the surface-active substance in an extruder to obtain a homogeneous melt and subsequently converting the melt into the free-flowing powder.