Patented Technology in Soft Gelatin Capsule: A Review

Since the introduction of Soft Capsule Making Machine in the 1970s, formulations have continually become more popular with
rapid developments in recent years. Soft Gelatin Capsules (Softgel) were developed in the 19th century to mask unpleasant taste and odour of drug substances. After then, many improvements have been made with respect to the production of the sesoft capsules. In the pharmaceutical field, the soft gel dosage forms are increasingly being preferred. Technologically with
Soft gel, content uniformity of low-dose drugs has been achieved and also has consumer preference as is easy to swallow.Interesting advances have recently been made in the area of developing liquid and semi-solid formulations in a soft gelatin capsule to address particular bio-performance issues. The Soft gel dosage form therefore offers several advantages over other oral dosage forms, such as delivering a liquid matrix designed to solubilize rapidly. This improves the oral bio availability of poorly soluble compounds. Delivery of low and ultra-low doses of a compound using soft gel also ensures decreased plasma variability. However, due to the dynamic nature of the soft gel dosage form,its development and shelf-life stability optimization are fraught with several challenges. This has led to the commercial pharmaceutical and nutraceutical industries opting for the development of alternative shell forming materials instead of the
traditional capsule shell material gelatin. This review discusses establishment and the on-going development of the manufacturing technology for liquid fill capsules with focus on progress and challenges of soft gelatin capsules formulation inoral administration for improved solubility and as an absorption-enhancing technique. This considerations form a basis for new applications in oral drug delivery.