Banner launches chewable gel technology
formulation that is designed to make it easier to dose drugs to
children and the elderly and to take medications on the go,
writes Phil Taylor.
The soft chewable technology - called Chewels - is suitable for any type of pharmaceutical product that requires oral dosing and can help overcome the problem of delivering medicines to reluctant children, according to a spokesman for the company.
He told In-Pharmatechnologist.com that Chewels are particularly suited as a dosage form for medicines that are currently delivered in liquid form. An obvious example of this is paracetamol for children, he noted.
Children are often unable to swallow whole capsules or tablets, so this drug is often formulated in a liquid suspension that requires dosing with a spoon or syringe - which can be messy and difficult if the child resists treatment. It would be possible to formulate paracetamol in a palatable Chewel format that should make dosing much easier, he suggested.
According to Banner, consumer preference testing bears this out, with two out of three children surveyed preferring this product over the medicine normally used, and three quarters of parents saying they would buy it for their children.
The spokesman noted that another potential application would be adult medicines that need to be taken throughout the day, such as a cough or sore throat syrup. Chewel-based formulations can be taken at any time, he said, adding that adults tend to find the chewable gels convenient because they can be taken easily without water.
Banner is still in the early stages of rolling this product out to customers, and has no contracts in place as yet. However, the spokesman said that some exploratory work is already underway with some pharmaceutical companies interested in using Chewels for over-the-counter (OTC) products.
One consideration for companies is the cost of the chewable gels compared to chewable tablets, the main rival dosage form. Chewels require more raw materials - they may be three times the size of an equivalent chewable tablet - and processing costs are higher.
"But palatability is much superior, and the format is very much preferred by consumers," he noted.
Banner does not have the chewable gel market to itself, however. One competitor is healthcare giant Cardinal Health, which offers a similar technology under the EnGel banner.
