BioEnvelop spins concentrated nutra film

BioEnvelop's fast-dissolving film strips can now hold up to 80mg of active ingredients, meaning formulators can literally put more nutritional benefit into a smaller space.

The company indicated it has overcome a major obstacle that should make fast-dissolving films more attractive as a nutraceutical delivery systems.

The race to improve the nutritional and bioavailability profile of ingredients has been on, but close behind it is the race to create novel delivery systems that are more appealing to consumers.

Consumer preferences for how they take their nutritional supplements have shown that they like to see the contents of the product if possible, but also that they do not like to swallow a large pill.

This need for supplements to be discreet and clean in appearance could spell good news for a delivery system such as that for BioEnvelop's film strips.

"Reputable research over the past five years has indicated that consumers are experiencing increasing difficulties with swallowing tablets, capsules and other traditional nutraceutical and pharmaceutical dosage formats," said Michael Chernyak, president of M2 Formulex.

"This is especially prevalent among children and the elderly."

Toronto, Canada-based M2 is a North American sales agent for BioEnvelop, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Montreal's Paladin Labs.

The capsule market has equally been driven by consumer preferences.

Given that consumers like to see the ingredients in a capsule, softgel capsules have become very popular.

However, health conscious consumers are also more likely to be vegetarian or to purchase along ethical lines.

This in turn had its impact on softgels as a delivery system, due to the animal-derived gelatine with which these products are traditionally made.

BSE scares, religious convictions and an increasing number of vegetarian consumers have encouraged supplement formulators to seek out non-animal options.

While most vegetarian gel caps on the market have not been as hard or have not been as reliable as animal-based gelatin capules, many manufacturers are proclaiming that those days are over.

For example, patent pending carrageenan-derived SeaGel from FMC Biopolymer has been used to create a softgel said to performs in the same manner, if not better, than animal-derived gelatin capsules.