Pills/ Tablets/ Capsules

A tablet is a mixture of active substances and binders, usually in powder form, pressed into a solid. more...

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Medicines to be taken orally are very often supplied in tablet form; indeed the word tablet without qualification would be taken to refer to a medicinal tablet. Medicinal tablets are usually called pills. Other products are manufactured in the form of tablets which dissolve; e.g., for cleaning and deodorizing.

Medicinal tablets are usually intended to be swallowed, and are of a suitable size and shape. A coating may be applied to hide the taste of the tablet's components. Tablets for other purposes, e.g., effervescent medicinal tablets and non-medicinal tablets, may be larger.

Medicinal tablets were originally made in the shape of a disk of whatever colour their components determined, but are now made in many shapes and colours to help users to distinguish between different medicines that they take. Tablets are often stamped with symbols, letters, and numbers which enable them to be identified. Sizes of tablets to be swallowed range from a few millimeters to about a centimeter. Some tablets are in the shape of capsules, and are called "caplets".

When Tylenol (paracetamol/acetaminophen) capsules were laced with cyanide (an incident referred to as the Tylenol scare), many people stopped buying capsules because they are easy to contaminate, in favor of tablets, which are not. Some makers of OTC (over-the-counter) drugs responded by starting to make what they termed "caplets", which were actually just tablets made in the shape of a capsule.

Tablets are often scored to allow them easily to be broken into equal halves for smaller doses.

Some people have difficulty swallowing tablets, this is called dysphagia. This is often caused by a gag reflex.

Tabletting formulations

In the tablet-pressing process, it is important that all ingredients be dry, powdered, and of uniform grain size as much as possible. Mixed grain sizes tend to separate out due to operational vibrations, resulting in inconsistent tableting, while any moisture in the system will tend to clog the tableting pathways.

Some substances may be tableted as pure substances, but this is usually not the case; most formulations include excipients. Normally, an inactive ingredient termed a binder is added to help hold the tablet together and give it strength. A wide variety of binders may be used, some common ones including lactose powder, sucrose powder, tapioca starch (cassava flour) and microcrystalline cellulose.

Often, an ingredient is also needed to act as an Disintegrant. This is an ingredient that dissolves readily in water to help the tablet disperse once swallowed. Some binders, such as starch, are also excellent disintegrants.

Read more at Wikipedia.org