Dosage forms specialist Capsugel expects to launch an innovative capsule design called Coni-Snap next year that will improve adherence to treatment regimens for patients with swallowing difficulties, such as babies, children, and older adults, as well as those with medical conditions such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Multiple Sclerosis.
Encapsulated drug multiparticulates, or 'sprinkles', containing a defined dose of medicine that can be sprinkled on food or beverages is a known alternative for people with swallowing challenges, but the major difficulty with using standard capsules is that their strong locking mechanism requires sufficient grip strength and dexterity to reopen the capsule.
Capsugel's Coni-Snap sprinkle capsule was developed to provide easy-to-open capsules to caregivers and patients yet has a strong enough lock to allow for processing in the manufacturing and distribution chain.
Capsugel tested the new design with caregivers to gauge usability, ease of opening, and user accuracy when sprinkling medications. More than 80% of participants described the new design as 'easy' or 'very easy' to open. And, while most participants naturally opened the capsules horizontally, the evaluation determined that the most effective way to instruct users to open the capsules was with arrows printed directly on the capsule shell.
'We recognise that patient populations are very diverse with different needs, which is challenging the traditional 'one-size-fits-all' approach to drug formulation and development,' said Sven Stegemann, Director for Pharmaceutical Business Development at Capsugel. 'Especially among very young and very old patients, there is a need for dose adjustments to account for the physiological differences in these patient populations. Easy-to-open capsule technology allows for accurate dosing at many different dose strengths of easy-to-swallow multiparticulates and sprinkles, which may lead to improved adherence and minimise dispensing errors.
'The easy-to-open capsule has the potential to make medication management simpler for patients and caregivers without compromising quality, safety, or efficacy for patients,' he said.
'Also, for the pharmaceutical industry, Coni-Snap sprinkle capsules offer a cost-effective solution for commercial products and line extensions based on existing and proven formulation and manufacturing technology.'