By John Van Tol, Harro Höfliger Packaging Systems

Almost every capsule filling machine on the market is capable of dosing the full range of fill media including powders, pellets, tablets, mini-tabs, and liquids. But several recent trends in capsule filling offer pharmaceutical manufacturers the possibility of doing more than just filling capsules. New developments in capsule filling technology can improve efficiencies as well as yields. The latest machines have on-board diagnostics and the ability to perform corrective actions during processing that directly address QbD principles, while increasing production efficiency. Highly flexible systems also have the capability to offer more unique features such as multiple powder dosing technologies, micro-dosing, combination fills and various ways to deal with common problems during production.

The properties of a given powder and the target fill volume help determine which dosing technology will produce  optimum results. While there are a variety of different technologies for dosing powder into capsules, the vast majority of capsule filling machines offer one of two basic dosing systems — either tamping or dosator technology.

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