Liquid-Fill Based Formulation: Advances and Challenges

The hard gelatin capsule has historically been used as a dosage form for pharmaceutical and nutraceutical products that are formulated as powders or pellets. Liquid-fill hard gelatin capsule technology was established in the early 1980s as an alternative to soft gelatin capsules and offered a number of specific advantages such as lower moisture and gas transmission, use of high melting point excipients, plasticiserand preservative-free, lower moisture content, ease of coating and choice of capsule composition (gelatin and hydroxypropyl methylcellulose, HPMC) (1-3).