Posted by Larry Hoover on September 2, 2004, at 6:24:19
In reply to Re: Splitting capsules, posted by justplainflakey on September 2, 2004, at 1:51:59
> This is an interesting topic, as I have observed quit differant responces in my own reaction depending if I am using a split tablet or not with zyprexa. Splitting is like reducing the dose by much more than half.
Some substances are enteric coated because they can be inactivated by stomach acid. Hydrochloric acid is a rather powerful chemical. If you split an enteric coated pill, the contents are no longer protected.
> Pill splitters are at least simple to use though, capsules whould be more of a challange. Don't most of them have neutral ingredients as well as active ones?
I'll assume that you're talking about the binders and other excipients (inactive ingredients), which generally make up the majority of the mass of a pill, and the drug, or active ingredient in the pill.
These different substances are blended for many hours in a special machine that somewhat resembles a clothes dryer, but without the heat. It's only when the mixture becomes uniform that it is allowed to be pressed into pills, as the pill-making machine measures the mixture by volume and/or mass. Only a uniform mixture will give exact dose based on those measures.
What that means is that a pill itself ought to be uniform in concentration of the active ingredient. The closer you come to exactly dividing a pill into two pieces, the closer you ought to come to getting an dose exactly half of the original pill.
Lar
poster:Larry Hoover
thread:384342
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040830/msgs/385578.html