Tablet Coating Agent

Tablet coating agents

Tablet coating agents are used to coat a tablet to protect against decomposition by atmospheric oxygen or humidity, to provide a desired release pattern, to mask taste or odor, or for aesthetic purposes. Coating may be sugar, film, or thick covering around a tablet. Sugar-coated tablets generally start to break up in the stomach. Film forms a thin cover around a formed tablet or bead. Unless it is enteric, film dissolves in the stomach. Enteric coating passes through the stomach to break up in the intestines. Some water-insoluble coatings (e.g., ethylcellulose) are used to slow the release of drug in the gastrointestinal tract.

Sugar Coating

  • Liquid glucose
  • Sucrose
 

Film coating

  • Hydroxyethyl cellulose
  • Hydroxypropyl cellulose
  • Hydroxypropyl methylcellulose
  • Methylcellulose (e.g., Methocel)
  • Ethylcellulose (e.g., Ethocel)
 

Enteric coating

  • Cellulose acetate phthalate
  • Shellac (35% in alcohol, pharmaceutical glaze)

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