Capsules provide an easy way for people to incorporate supplements into their daily lives without needing to mix or prepare tablets beforehand.
Capsules can be filled with any number of substances ranging from powders, granules, pellets, pastes and liquids; their versatility makes them an excellent early stage development strategy that allows almost any ingredient to be enclosed inside one capsule.
Ease of self-administration
Finding an appropriate dosage form for pharmaceutical, nutritional or nutraceutical products is an integral step towards success, impacting everything from consumer compliance and costs to manufacturing processes and manufacturing costs.
Capsules are easy to take and can be more palatable than tablets, masking unpleasant tastes and odors and improving patient compliance. In addition, capsules can be hermetically sealed so as to be tamper resistant.
Hard capsules make taking medications much simpler for patients who self-administer; their unique shape and coating make it easier to consume whole. Furthermore, this design protects active ingredients from being exposed to harsh environments in the digestive tract which enhance their bioavailability – thus making capsules an optimal form for self-administration by patients themselves.
Targeted delivery
An ingestible capsule offers a promising way of administering drugs to the GI tract. As opposed to currently used oral drugs that spread throughout the body and cause widespread side effects, capsule-delivered treatments could allow targeted, localised therapy for diseases like Crohn’s and IBD.
Capsules may also be combined with other medical devices such as PillCams, fluoroscopes and ultrasounds to pinpoint their location within the GI tract. Unfortunately, however, their development remains at an early stage and requires further miniaturisation of both electrical and mechanical components.
This device includes a drug reservoir which can be emptied using an associated mechanism, electrical circuits, transceivers and modules for localizing capsules within the GI tract. Powered by batteries and remotely activated using handheld magnets in 2.91 +/- 0.48 seconds for retrieval purposes, its components may then be recycled or reused after retrieval.
Efficient storage
As opposed to tablets, capsules do not require additional ingredients such as lubricants and binders – potentially helping lower production costs while making capsules more appealing options for smaller pharmaceutical companies.
Gelatin used to be the go-to material for hard capsule manufacturing, but there has been increasing pressure to move away from this animal-derived substance. Instead, cellulosic polymers such as hydroxypropylmethylcellulose (HPMC) may now be preferred as replacement materials – they offer several advantages over gelatin including nontoxicity and being classified by regulators as generally recognized as safe (GRAS).
To create capsules, metal moulds known as pins are immersed into a hot solution of polymer. Once formed, these pins create the body and cap of each capsule before being filled and hermetically sealed using rotary die encapsulation equipment – starting from size 5 with 0.13 millilitre capacity to over 1425 mg for size 000 capsules!
Aesthetics
Capsules provide an efficient alternative to powders and liquids which require measuring and mixing, and dissolve efficiently in the stomach. Plus they’re less susceptible to contamination while not needing refrigeration!
As such, capsules can more easily fit into daily life and create an aesthetic look. Orange, pink, and white capsules are commonly seen communicating positivity, energy, and femininity; earthy tones such as browns are associated with fear, anxiety, or depression.
These colors also evoke a sense of the familiar and everyday. This aesthetic has been termed “everyday aesthetics” or “gay aesthetics”, and can be found in several healthcare contexts; however, it has sometimes been criticized as being too limited and focused solely on cosmetic appeals for appearance’s sake.
