Sodium stearyl fumarate is a special water-soluble lubricant for tableting. It provides good lubrication at low use levels and is much less likely to cause over lubrication than stearate. Sodium stearyl fumarate is an inert, hydrophilic, tablet lubricant, designed specifically for use where other conventional lubricants are not suitable. It is especially useful in those situations where the usual lubricating agents fail to provide tablets of adequate stability, hardness, content uniformity, disintegration and dissolution rate. Sodium stearyl fumarate is effective at use levels of 1-3%.