A process for manufacturing 5-aminosalicylic acid (5-ASA) tablet cores. The process comprises the steps of wet granulating a granulation composition comprising 5-ASA, a granulation liquid, and at least one binder using a high-shear granulator to form 5-ASA granules; drying the 5-ASA granules to form dry granules; blending the dry granules with at least one filler and optionally one or more additional pharmaceutical excipients to form a compression blend; and compressing the compression blend to form 5-ASA tablet cores. The granulation composition and the compression blend do not comprise a reducing sugar.