Here’s a question for you: Is your product’s encapsulation complete once the two pieces of the filled capsule have been locked together?
Maybe…and maybe not.
As you may know, two piece empty capsules are designed so that once the fill material is placed into the capsule’s body, the capsule body and capsule cap lock together, thereby encapsulating the fill material. Logically speaking, it seems that once the body and cap are locked together, the product would be complete. While this is often the case, sometimes it is beneficial to add one more step to the encapsulation process: Capsule banding.
If you are working with liquid fill ingredients to create liquid capsules, capsule banding is a must.
“Capsule banding” refers to the use of a thin, liquid strip of gelatin or HPMC to seal the joint between the body and cap of a locked capsule. This strip is applied all the way around the capsule.
The answer has to do with how empty capsules are designed. Regardless of the type of fill material used, air gets entrapped in the capsule during the capsule filling process. To reduce the internal pressure from this entrapped air – and avoid having that pressure cause the capsules to come apart – empty capsules are designed with tiny vents at the connection between the body and the cap, to allow this air to escape.
Without capsule banding, liquid capsules are extremely likely to have leakage problems. Capsule banding prevents this problem. After the filled liquid capsules have been allowed to rest for a specific period of time, thereby giving the air a chance to escape, the capsule banding is applied to seal these vents and prevent the liquid fill material from leaking out.
Acid resistant capsules such as our AR-CAPS® are designed to ensure that the capsule passes through the stomach intact. Capsule banding is recommended for use with acid resistant capsules because it serves as an additional layer of protection to ensure that the drug is not released until the capsule reaches the duodenum (i.e. the first part of the small intestine).
Capsule banding is done on special equipment using a banding kit. A banding kid provides all the necessary materials. In general, you’ll want to match your banding kit to the type of empty capsules used. Use a gelatin banding kit for gelatin capsules, an HPMC banding kit for HPMC capsules or our AR-CAPS® banding kit for AR-CAPS® acid resistant capsules.
Banding kits are available in clear and colored options, as well as standard and custom styles. For example, CapsCanada can create a banding kit that matches to any Pantone color, or create a custom capsule banding solution that can securely encase problematic fill materials.
Regardless of the capsule size, you’ll need 10 kg of banding solution for every 1,000,000 capsules that you produce. CapsCanada’s banding kits, which are all Kosher and Halal certified as well as free of preservatives, prions and BSE, are available in 1, 5 and 10 kg packages.
Capsule banding is commonly used to…
Once banded, capsules are nearly impossible to open and re-seal without leaving evidence of tampering. For this reason, capsule banding counts as a tamper-evident packaging feature.
Contact us to learn more about capsule banding, CapsCanada’s banding kits, or to discuss a custom solution that supports your unique formulation.