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Pellets are small, free-flowing, spherical-shaped units made using a group of fine powders or granules of drugs through pelletization. Over the years, Pelletization has gained popularity across the pharmaceutical industry owing to its various advantages over other oral medicine. Read on to know about the therapeutic advantages of pharmaceutical pellets.
Pellets are used for controlled and delayed release of the active ingredients in the GI tract at prearranged rates. The main reason why pellets are so popular is because of their versatility that is used to target specific tissue at a particular area in the GI tract. This, in turn, enhances the drug delivery at specific intervals inside the tract. Pharmaceutical pellets are a brilliant carrier system for the controlled oral administration of low and high doses. Notably, pellets of MUDFs (multi-unit dosage forms) are tiny, free-flowing particulates with not more than 2.0mm in size.
From the pharmaceutical perspective, the shape, size, and strength of the pellets play a great role in drug administration.
Of late, the pharmaceutical pellets manufacturers in India are trying varied methods to improve the aesthetic appeal of the drugs. The increasing demand for pharmaceutical pellets has prompted many market players to explore various avenues in the field of pelletization.
Notably, pellets vary between 500-1500 µm in size for therapeutic needs.
One of the best therapeutic advantages of pharmaceutical pellets is that it enhances the drug absorption. This way the pellets are easily dissolved in the GI tract that can maximize the benefits of the medicine.
When the pellet comes in contact with the fluids present in the GI tract, the water disperses into the pellets, breaking it down into particles and dispersing the drug.
When administered orally, the pellets easily pass through the pylorus and moves to the gastrointestinal tract. Here, the ingredients of the pellets are distributed evenly, thus improving the maximum absorption rate by the body for efficient results.
Due to the even distribution of the ingredients by the pellets, there are minimal to no chances of dose dumping that can create harmful side effects. With the even distribution of ingredients, the chances of high concentrations of bioactive agents are eliminated. A high bioactive component can irritate the patient’s GI tract and lower the peak plasma fluctuations.
Pellets can be divided on the basis of desired dosage strength without process or formulation changes. This makes it highly flexible compared to other oral dosage forms.
There are times when you need to consume chemically incompatible products at a single dose, especially in tablet form, where you need to consume separate tablets. However, that’s not the case with pellets as you can consume them as a single capsule.
Currently, the pellets manufacturers in India are making pellets that can be easily consumed as a single dose by encapsulating them. This provides improved absorption as well as maintains versatility in formulation and development too.
Some drugs can irritate the GI mucosa. However, the drug quantity in a single pellet is very small, which makes it easy to fabricate the formulations for acid-sensitive medications such as Erythromycin.
Unlike conventional medicines, pharmaceutical pellets have shown improvement in pharmacokinetics (how a drug works in the body) or PK performance. This makes it a fantastic alternative for unstable drugs. It also works as an effective solution where drug-to-drug physiochemical interactions occur, and you are prohibited to combine two drugs.
As pellets carry two or more drugs in a single capsule or tablet, the slow-release method gives the ability to release two components at different times. As a result, the patient is not required to take more than one dose.
As pellets carry high drug benefits in low-sized particles, the side effects are usually zero to none. Hence, preferred over pills when it comes to improving medication adherence in patients.
As the manufacturers use different layers and coating, they can produce controlled-release pellets that slowly disperses each ingredient at a pre-arranged time. The slow and controlled-release pharmaceutical pellets prevent patients from taking different pills and yet achieve the same results with a single dose.
Immediate-release formulations in pellets allow it to dissolve quickly without delaying or stretching the absorption of the medicine. Administering drugs in pellet form provides an increased surface area, unlike conventional compressed tablets or capsules. This significantly reduces the time required for the disintegration and dispersing of the drugs.
Pellets are majorly used to manufacture sustained release dosage systems of medicines. Some of the advantages include daytime and nighttime activity of the drugs, less dosage frequency, and increased patient compliance. It should be noted that opting for pellets over tablets or other oral drugs can prove to be cost-effective as well.
Pellets offer various types of drug releases such as controlled release, immediate release, and sustained release. They also offer site-specific drug delivery that is necessary, in certain cases.
Pharmaceutical pellets are versatile as they open doors to new possibilities of combining unstable drugs in a single form without jeopardizing human health. This will benefit both manufacturers and patients significantly. ZIM Laboratories, an EU-GMP certified company, is one of the largest manufacturers and suppliers of pharmaceutical pellets in India. Within a short period of time, we have grown considerably and followed the latest technology to manufacture pellets. We manufacture pharmaceutical pellets that are thoroughly tested and maintains optimum purity and quality under the proper guidance of professional experts in the field of medicine.
ZIM Labs is an innovative drug delivery solution provider focusing on improving patient convenience and adherence to drug intake. We offer a range of technology-based drug delivery solutions and non-infringing proprietary manufacturing processes for the production and supply of innovative and differentiated generic pharmaceutical products to our customers globally. At ZIM Labs we provide our customers a comprehensive range of value-added solid dosage differentiated generic products in semi-finished and finished categories/formulations. These include granules, pellets (sustained, modified, extended-release), taste-masked powders, suspensions, tablets, capsules, and recently developed Oral Thin Films (OTF).
