The Spring Equinox is a very special solar term, symbolizing the beginning of vitality and hope. Looking ahead to 2023, the industry expects that this year will see continuous emergence and implementation of R&D achievements in fields such as biomedicine, biomedical engineering, synthetic biology, and intelligent technologies. At the same time, this year will also be an important year for the development of Chinese biomedical and biomedical engineering enterprises.

What are empty capsules?
Capsules are a common dosage form. Empty capsules are the shells of capsules, widely used in pharmaceuticals, health supplements, and nutritional supplements.

Easy to swallow: Empty capsules are long cylindrical, small in size, and easy to swallow, especially suitable for drugs with poor taste or those that are not easy to take orally.

Suitable for various substances: Empty capsules can be filled with various powders, granules, liquids, etc., without being limited by the nature of the substance, offering high adaptability.

Strong protection: Empty capsules effectively protect the drug from oxidation, decomposition, moisture, etc., improving drug stability and bioavailability.

Raw materials of empty capsules
Empty capsules can be divided into animal-based empty capsules and HPMC empty capsules according to their composition. Currently, over 95% of the capsules used in China are animal-based empty capsules made from medicinal gelatin. In 2012, the “poison capsule” incident occurred, where some enterprises mixed industrial gelatin into raw materials, resulting in empty capsules with excessive levels of heavy metal chromium, up to 90 times the limit.

Animal-based capsules have complex raw material sources, difficult quality control, and many inherent performance and safety defects. To solve these problems of traditional gelatin capsules, HPMC capsules have gradually become mainstream. In 1997, Pfizer pioneered the launch of two types of HPMC capsules on the U.S. market: hypromellose empty capsules Vcaps™ and pullulan capsules. Subsequently, Japan, Austria, and South Korea successfully developed HPMC capsules using raw materials such as seaweed and corn starch.

Advantages of vegetable empty capsules
The raw materials of vegetable empty capsules are derived from potato starch and seaweed polysaccharides – completely natural plants, meeting the needs of vegetarian culture and religious groups. During production, no harmful substances are added, and there is no environmental pollution, so our vegetable capsule manufacturing enterprise is called a “zero-emission” enterprise. The moisture content of vegetable empty capsules can be as low as 3-6%, with a stable molecular structure that prevents moisture from transferring from the capsule shell to the drug. They do not become brittle under low humidity conditions and remain stable under high humidity conditions. Their storage conditions are broad: within a temperature range of 10-40°C and humidity of 35-65%, they will not soften, deform, harden, or become brittle, with a shelf life of up to 36 months.

Vegetable empty capsules are widely used in fields such as pharmaceuticals, health supplements, and nutritional supplements, including filling of Chinese herbal preparations and biological preparations. As consumers’ health awareness continues to increase and their pursuit of quality of life grows, vegetable capsules simultaneously meet the needs of vegetarian culture and religious groups. In recent years, the market share of vegetable capsules in Europe and the United States has been growing rapidly, and the replacement of gelatin capsules with vegetable capsules has become a global trend.

The Spring Equinox – a solar term full of hope and vitality. It marks the end of winter and the beginning of spring, a good time for all things to revive. On this beautiful day, Unicornshell remains true to its original aspiration, taking as its mission to help upgrade and transform China’s healthcare industry, and striving to become a benchmark for domestic vegetable empty capsule brands.