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How are pills, tablets, and caplets made?

These days, the majority of medications are in the form of pills, tablets, caplets, capsules or softgels.  In the case of tablets, manufacturers have standard size molds for the precise size of their pill.  During the manufacturing process, in addition to the active ingredients, the manufacturer will generally add a variety of excipients (other ingredients) to take up space (fillers), hold the ingredients together (binders), and assist in disintegration (disintegrants).  It may even be necessary to coat the tablet so that the taste and odor are masked (coatings).

Fillers are necessary for the manufacturing process, but do nothing more for the pill itself than take up volume.  The pill must be large enough for human fingers to readily handle.  Even some small pills are quite a bit larger than the active ingredients they contain.  Some common fillers are lactose (milk sugar), microcrystalline cellulose, corn starch, sugars (including sucrose, mannitol, sorbitol, fructose, dextrose), whey and yeast.

Binders are used to make the components stick together when the ingredients are compressed to make the pill.  Some common binders are povidone, xanthan gum and Carbopol (an acrylic resin).  Some fillers may also act as binding agents and are referred to as filler/binders.

Disintegrants facilitate the break-up of the tablet in the stomach. Some commonly used disintegrants are crospovidone, croscarmellose sodium and gellan gum.

Coatings help to prevent the tablet from dissolving too soon, thus breaking up in your mouth.  They may also keep you from tasting or smelling the active ingredients.  A common coating is shellac - the same as used on wood floors and boats!

ENIVA VITAMINS AND MINERALS have no fillers, they are liquid.

www.eniva.com