Ready-mix coating systems for solid dosage manufacturing.
A ready-mix hides the chemistry, which is convenient until your filing names a polymer. This is what sits underneath each of our ranges.
Enteric, delayed release
Also written as methacrylic base, acrylic enteric polymer
Methacrylic acid copolymers stay intact in the stomach and dissolve once pH rises in the intestine. They carry most of the enteric range because they can be applied from either a solvent or a water base, which lets the same polymer family serve cores that can and cannot tolerate an aqueous process.
Enteric, delayed release
Also written as CAP, CAP base
CAP is the older of the enteric polymers and is still named in many filings. Where your dossier specifies a CAP film, the methacrylic route is not a substitution you can make without a change control, which is why we hold a CAP grade for the same actives.
Enteric, delayed release
Also written as HPMC phthalate, phthalate enteric polymer
A phthalate base governs release differently from a methacrylic film, so a dissolution profile developed on one does not carry across to the other. Confirm the acid stage and the buffer stage on the first trial batch.
Immediate release film, seal, sugar film
Also written as HPMC, hydroxypropyl methylcellulose
HPMC is the workhorse of immediate release film coating. It forms a clear, tough film at low build-up, takes pigment well and does not delay release, which is why it underpins both the moisture barrier range and the sugar film coat.
Moisture barrier, immediate release
Also written as PVA
PVA films are less permeable to water vapour than HPMC at the same thickness, which is what makes a moisture barrier a barrier. Our moisture barrier grades are fully formulated HPMC and PVA based immediate release systems, so the protection does not come at the cost of release.
Enteric and moisture barrier film, glazing
Also written as lac resin, pharmaceutical glaze, E904
Shellac is a natural resin secreted by the lac insect, Kerria lacca, and refined into flakes or into pharmaceutical glaze, a solution in ethanol. It is one of the oldest enteric materials in use: the free resin is insoluble in acid and dissolves in the alkaline conditions of the small intestine, so a shellac film will hold in the stomach and release beyond it. India is one of the principal producers of the raw resin. Shellac appears in the USP-NF as Shellac and as Pharmaceutical Glaze, and as E904 where it is used as a glazing agent.
Grades whose polymer base is not listed here are not omitted by accident. We publish the base where it is part of the specification, and confirm the rest against your requirement directly. Ask us about a specific grade.
What these polymers produce
Metallic gold film coat
Metallic blue DB3012
Aqueous colour film coat
Extra white film coat
