A compressible extended release tablet or tablet layer having a drug release profile that is not strongly dependent on tablet hardness may be prepared by dry blending a pharmaceutically active ingredient with hydroxypropyl methylcellulose, wherein the hydroxypropyl methylcellulose has a bimodal or multimodal number average molecular weight distribution that includes at least one mode over 20,000 Daltons and at least one mode under 10,000 Daltons. An additional advantage of the invention is that the tablet formulations may be prepared without resort to wet granulation.