Capsule

A pharmaceutical bean is an easy way to take medication. Capsules may contain powder, liquid or oil. The outer shell is made of hard or soft gelatin. Capsules come in different shapes and colors to identify dose or what company made them. They are also available as timed release which work over a period of time. Capsules should usually be taken whole. Capsules should also not be crushed without first checking to see if it is safe.

Capsules used for medicine

Cod liver oil soft gel capsules

Soft gelatin capsules

Soft gelatin capsules are airtight-sealed one-piece capsules containing a liquid or a semisolid fill without a bubble of air or gas. They are made from a more flexible, gelatin film plasticized by the addition of glycerine, sorbital, etc.

As with hard gelatin capsules, soft gelatin capsules are mostly given orally. Some can be formulated and manufactured to produce a number of different drug delivery systems such as

• Chewable softgels where a highly-flavoured shell is chewed to release the drug liquid.

• Suckable softgels which consist of a gelatin shell containing the flavoured medicament to be sucked

• Twist-off softgels which are designed with a tag to be twisted or snipped off, thereby allowing access to the drug.

Sources

• Allen L. and Ansel H. (2014). Ansel’s Pharmaceutical Dosage Forms and Drug Delivery Systems. Philadelphia: Lipincott Williams and Wilkins.
• Augsburger, L and Hoag, S. (2018). Pharmaceutical Dosage Forms: Capsules. New York: Taylor & Francis Group.
• Aulton, M. and Taylor, K. (2013). Aulton’s Pharmaceutics: The Design and Manufacture of Medicines, (4^th ed.). Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone.
• Dash, A., Singh, S. and Tolman, J. (2014). Pharmaceutics – Basic Principles and Application to Pharmacy Practice. USA: Academic Press.
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• Hoag, S. (2017). Capsules Dosage Form: Formulation and Manufacturing Considerations. In Y. Qui, Y. Chen, G. Zhang, L. Yu, and R. Mantri (Eds.), Developing Solid Oral Dosage Forms – Pharmaceutical Theory and Practice, (2^nd ed.) (pp. 723-747). UK: Elsevier Inc.
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• Liu, R. (2018). Water-Insoluble Drug Formulation (3^rd ed.). New York: Taylor & Francis Group.
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