PILL FOR ALL
Want to boost your energy? Lose or gain weight? Cure an ailment? Pills provide answers for all maladies. Here is a dose of know-how about the tablet itself.
TABISTORY
Early medicine was a process of soaking herbs in water or alcohol to extract the medicinally active ingredients to be drunk as tea. Later it was found that dried herbs could also be used, and various herbs could be mixed together and swallowed with a little water. They could also be mixed with minerals and chemicals with medicinal properties. Then, methods were found to extract the active ingredients of plants and present them as powders. And to get an accurate dose, tablets were made.
Tablets were originally disk-shaped and of the color their components determined. But now, they are made in many shapes and colours, and are often stamped with symbols, letters, and numbers to help users distinguish between different medicines. Tablets in the shape of capsules are called caplets.
TABSTATS
In 2006, sales of prescription medicines worldwide was US$ 602 billion, says IMS Health, a pharmaceuticals information and consulting company. It predicts 5 to 6 per cent growth for global pharmaceuticals market in 2008. The Indian pharmaceuticals industry is worth US$ 4.5 billion, growing at about 8 to 9 per cent annually.
It is also predicted that plastic would rule medicine packaging. Though pharma packaging is one of the most easily recyclable materials, very little of it is actually recycled.
| ASPRIN-ATION |
Here is how one of the most commonly used tablets Asprin is made
(the process is called dry-granulation or slugging):
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| Mixing |
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Compression |
  Cornstarch (an excipient/ binder) is mixed with water, heated, and stirred to form a translucent paste.
 It is blended with the active ingredient, and part of the lubricant in a mixing machine called ‘glen mixer’. This also expels air from the mixture.
The mixture is then mechanically separated into units, called slugs.
Dry screening
Slugs are filtered through a machine called ‘fitzpatrick mill’.
 The remaining lubricant is added to the mixture, and blended in a rotary granulator and sifter. |
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 The mixture is compressed into tablets by rotary tablet machine, and tested for hardness, brittleness, and disintegration.
Bottling and packaging
 The tablets are transferred to an automated bottling assembly line where they are dispensed into clear or color-coated polyethylene or polypropylene plastic bottles or glass bottles.
The bottles are labelled with product information and an expiration date. |
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