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Table 4 Polymer blends used in capsules

From: Applications of polymer blends in drug delivery

Polymers

Advantage(s)

Commercial product

Ref.

HPMC, carrageenan

Plant based (gelatin free)

Quali-V® hard capsules (Shionogi Qualicaps)

[10]

HPMC, gellan gum

Plant based (gelatin free)

Vcaps® hard capsules (Capsugel)

[10]

HPMC, gellan gum

• Enteric functionality (without the need for enteric coating)

• GRAS excipients

• Plant based (gelatin free)

DRcaps® hard capsules (Capsugel)

[10]

HPMC, HPMC-AS

• Enteric functionality (without the need for enteric coating)

• Plant based (gelatin free)

Vcaps® enteric hard capsules (Capsugel)

[10]

Carrageenan, starch/modified starch

Plant-based (gelatin free) soft capsules

• Vegesoft vegetarian softgels (Eurocaps)

• VersagelTM (Procaps)

[11, 12]

Gelatin, methacrylic acid copolymer type A

Gelatin-based softgels with enteric functionality (avoids the need for enteric coating)

EntericareTM softgels (Patheon)

[13]

  1. Abbreviations: GRAS generally regarded as safe, HPMC hypromellose, HPMC-AS hydroxypropyl methylcellulose acetate succinate