Central Composite Design: An Optimization Tool for Developing Pharmaceutical Formulations

Design and optimization are pivotal in a pharmaceutical company's formulation and manufacturing process. Various approaches and methodologies are employed in formulation design. A quantitative adjustment to a component, ingredient, or process variable is made while maintaining control over other independent components to monitor their influence on quality attributes. However, investigating these components together poses challenges, potentially leading to misinterpretation of experimental results. To resolve this, simultaneous design and development process modification can be achieved using the design of experiment methodologies, such as Central Composite Design (CCD). CCD effectively evaluates the interaction effects of numerous elements on product quality and outcomes. It has been successfully applied across various studies to develop and enhance formulations. This review provides insights into CCD, including its varieties, a comparison with other experimental designs, applications in pharmaceutical formulation, experimental design data analysis, optimization techniques, benefits and advantages, case studies, integration with Quality by Design (QbD) and regulatory considerations.