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<p class="MsoNormal">Folks,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It seems that Hypromellose (HPMC or “vegetarian”) gel caps are not suitable for any form of dry storage. The report (Ku et al., 2009) that introduced the material cited HPMC as being considerably less hygroscopic than gelatin. However,
their test period was short – just one week – and it seems that the stability point is not reached in that short a time. They may in fact be terminally hygroscopic, absorbing water until they melt altogether. We have found out about this the hard way, so I
thought I’d pass on the information before anyone else chooses this product.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:black">Paul Callomon</span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:black"><br>
<i>Collection Manager, Malacology, Invertebrate Paleontology and General Invertebrates</i></span><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:black">Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, Philadelphia</span></b><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:black">1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia PA 19103-1195, USA</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:black"><br>
<i><a href="mailto:callomon@ansp.org" target="_blank"><span style="color:blue">callomon@ansp.org</span></a> Tel 215-405-5096 - Fax 215-299-1170</i></span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Ku, M. S., Li, W., Dulin, W., Donahue, F., Cade, D., Benamur, H. & Hutchison, K. 2009. Performance qualification of a new Hypromellose capsule. International Journal of Pharmaceutics 386 (1-2): 30-41.<o:p></o:p></p>
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