Soft gelatin capsules consist of a filling,
containing the dissolved or suspected active substance, and of a
one-piece shell. Owing to the hermetic seal, the filling ingredients are
protected against any harmful influence of the environment. Physical
properties of solutions and suspensions, especially their homogeneity,
allow the precision of dosage of active ingredients, rare in dry, orally
received medications. In comparison with tablets and hard capsules,
soft capsules require much less auxiliary substances, most of which are
of herbal origin. The possibility to adjust the shell ingredients
enables the adaptation of its parameters to specify requirements of
storage conditions and especially to chemical as well as pharmacological
properties of a medication. The research on bioavailability of various medication forms has
reportedly proved that the parameters of absorption and bioavailability
of medications in the form of soft gelatine capsules are much better.
It is mainly the result of one of the basic soft capsule features - the
exact dispersion of a therapeutic substance in a liquid or semisolid
medium. Owing to that, absorption of a medicament starts already at the
moment of capsule disintegration in the alimentary tract, and is more
effective thanks to the small size of suspended or dissolved particles
of a medicament.
