Filling of Capsule Shells

In the pharmacy, capsule filler equipment for 60 or 100 units is used most frequently, but equipment able to fill up to 300 shells are available. For the filling of smaller numbers of capsules, the holes in the filler can be partly covered with paper or tape. An even distribution of the powder mixture over the filler is essential, which can be obtained by good flowability of the powder mixture and a correct spreading technique the placing of a large quantity of powder on top of only a section of the capsule bodies in the equipment should be avoided. The method to fill capsules using capsule filler equipment is described in Sect. 28.7.3. 

One dose of voluminous powders or high dose active substances sometimes will not fit into one capsule. Therefore, densified or heavy qualities of these substances may be available, such as for tetracycline hydrochloride. For high doses of paracetamol the problem can be solved by using a mixture of large and small particles, designated (in the Netherlands) as paracetamol (500-90). This type of paracetamol has a relatively high bulk density, because the small particles fill up the spaces between the large particles. 

The following in-process controls are essential for the preparation of capsules  

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