[Nhcoll-l] More on Hypromellose gelcaps

[Callomon,Paul]

Folks,

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.

Paul Callomon
Collection Manager, Malacology, Invertebrate Paleontology and General Invertebrates
________________________________
Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, Philadelphia
1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia PA 19103-1195, USA
callomon at ansp.org<mailto:callomon at ansp.org> Tel 215-405-5096 - Fax 215-299-1170


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.
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