Capsule shell
AssigneeThe Dow Chemical Company
InventorsJimmie Duane Christen, Wen-Jiu Cheng
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Abstract
Capsule shells for pharmaceutical use are presently made from gelatin. Use of water-soluble starch ethers instead of gelatin facilitates the production of the shells and produces improved shells. Preferred material is 2-hydroxypropyl starch made from high-amylose starch and having about 0.3 to 2.5 hydroxypropyl groups per glucose unit of the starch.
Claims3
In the process for making pharmaceutical capsules by dip-coating pins in an aqueous dip bath of a water-soluble film-forming material, withdrawing the coated pins and drying to form one half of a capsule, the improvement wherein the bath is essentially an aqueous solution of hydroxyalkyl starch having an Ubbelohde viscosity of about 2-15 cps as a 2 percent aqueous solution at 20.degree. C.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.