Pharmaceutical Gelatine

PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY

GPL HALAL GELATINE has been used for decades as an indispensable incipient in the pharmaceutical industry.

It is particularly suitable due to its film forming qualities, its thermo-reversible gelatine and its adhesion. The most important applications for pharmaceutical Gelatine are capsule manufacture and vitamin embedding.

Gelatin capsules are an elegant and widely used drug dosage form. They enable liquid and pasty drugs to be administered simply and safely. At the same time, drugs in capsules have a high degree of bioavailability. Capsules also enable pharmaceutical active ingredients to be kept stable and protected from light and atmospheric oxygen. Depending on the drug involved, hard or soft capsules are used. Liquid or pasty fillings based on oil are normally prepared in soft capsules whilst hard capsules are preferred for powders.

HARD CAPSULES

Hard capsules are made of pure gelatine with a water content of 10 to 15 %. They are mostly produced containing dyes. They are produced by an immersion technique and subsequently provided to the pharmaceutical industry as empty shells stuck together. In a separate process, they are then reopened, filled with powder or granulate, and reclosed.

SOFT CAPSULE

Soft capsules are produced in a single production step, filled and then closed off. The name soft capsule is used as the shell of the capsule contains plasticizers in addition to the gelatine. The actual degree of softness and elasticity depends on the type and amount of plasticizer used, the residual moistness, and the thickness of the capsule shell. The soft capsule shells are generally somewhat thicker than hard capsule shells. Glycerol, sorbitol or a combination of both are common plasticizers.

MICRO CAP

To reduce the risks involved when using formaldehyde, agar was associated with gelatine as the wall matrix materials of micro capsules as it could cross link with gelatine to give a gel network in the micro capsules formation. Here we report the development, characterization and safe use of agar–gelatine micro capsules. We further demonstrate that both oral and topical applications are possible using the berberine HCl and gallic acid loaded micro capsules respectively. Micro capsules containing both drugs were prepared combining the optimal parameters identified.

VITAMIN COATINGS

Gelatine plays a special role in the formulation of stable and administration-friendly forms of vitamins based on oil (A + E) for humans and for animal fodder. Finely distributed vitamin A or E drops in an aqueous gelatine solution can be converted to a free-flowing powder using a special setting and drying process. The powder then remains easily dispersible in aqueous solution. In addition, by providing the vitamins with a coating of special gelatine, they remain stable and are protected from the effects of light and atmospheric oxygen.