ISSUE NO. 28 — Applications of Liquid-Filled Hard-Shell Capsules in Drug Development
Liquid-filled hard-shell capsules (LFHCs) are a popular formulation for oral solid delivery of chemical drugs and nutraceuticals. Often selected for drugs with poor solubility/bioavailability, LFHCs also have applications in a number of other situations, including specific benefits during early-phase clinical development.
In Issue 28 of The Altascientist, you will find:
• Applications of LFHCs
• The production process
• The role of excipients
• Other advantages of LFHCs
• A case study
• How Altasciences can help
Applications for Liquid-Filled Hard-Shell Capsules in Your Drug Development Program
The use of modern drug discovery approaches, such as combinatorial chemistry and high-throughput screening, as well as structural understanding of drug-target binding by X-ray diffraction and molecular modelling, has resulted in an increasing percentage of highly potent lead compounds.
The majority of these compounds have high-melting points and poor aqueous solubility, which directly impact their dissolution and bioavailability. In an LFHC, readily metabolized lipid-based solutions are used as liquid carriers, providing for optimized absorption of the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API).
LFHCs offer several advantages for handling these challenging APIs, including:
• improved safety in processing and administration of potent drugs
• ease of administration
• flexible application
• abuse-resistant formulations
How Altasciences Can Help With Your Liquid-Filled Hard-Shell Capsule Formulations and Manufacturing
Altasciences has a proven track record and thorough expertise with LFHCs, having completed numerous projects over the years, for a wide range of clients. Our highly knowledgeable experts will assist you in determining the most appropriate and efficient program parameters, from batch size to excipient selection and capsule composition, color, and banding options. Our skilled operators use state-of-the-art machinery for every step of the process. We perform comprehensive process validation prior to manufacture, identifying and correcting any potential issue before it becomes a problem. We provide 100% manual inspection of the finished capsules and take pride in doing the job right the first time, every time.
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