New patent for Bioprogress

BioProgress has had one of its pending patents granted in Europe.

The patent relates to a new type of capsule made from 'foamed' film, whereby gas is blown into the film during production resulting in a film with a honeycombed structure.

The voids in the film may be gas filled, empty or filled with other materials to produce specific taste-burst characteristics or to deliver active drugs. The light honeycombed film structure results in capsules that dissolve rapidly, releasing the capsule contents into the mouth.

The capsule wall film residue also dissolves quickly with a pleasant melt-in-the-mouth sensation not achievable with gelatin type materials that are chewy and remain in the mouth long after the capsule contents has been delivered.

The patent also includes a 'Septum' double chamber capsule made from 'foamed' film, enabling two separate actives to be released simultaneously in-the-mouth.

Graham Hind, CEO of BioProgress, said: 'The preliminary machine design for the production of foamed film capsules has been completed. We are very excited about this new patented technology which compliments well our Soluleaves dissolve-in-the-mouth film technology. It provides a new pleasant-to-take format to enable the delivery of drugs requiring higher individual doses than is possible in a single square of dissolve-in-the-mouth film, simply because the physical film volume in a small square of film is too small to accommodate a large dose of drug.'