hypromellose

There are many fields of application for hypromellose.

Hypromellose is a vegetarian-acceptable alternative to gelatin, but is more expensive to produce.

Vegetable capsules are composed of hypromellose, a polymer formulated from cellulose.

Various benchmark tests are used to qualify hypromellose:

When applied, a hypromellose solution acts to swell and absorb water, thereby expanding the thickness of the tear-film.

As a food additive, hypromellose is an emulsifier, thickening and suspending agent, and an alternative to animal gelatin.

Hypromellose is a solid, and is a slightly off-white to beige powder in appearance and may be formed into granules.

On a manufacturing note, since hypromellose is a vegetarian substitute for gelatin, it is slightly more expensive to produce due to semisynthetic manufacturing processes.

Because hypromellose solution is a non-newtonian solution and exhibits pseudoplastic, more specifically, thixotropic behavior, various test methods are available, and the results of different methods and viscosmeters do not necessarily correspond to each other.

Preparations contain carboxymethyl cellulose, hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (a.k.a. HPMC or hypromellose), hydroxypropyl cellulose and hyaluronic acid (a.k.a. hyaluronan, HA) They contain water, salts and polymers but lack the proteins found in natural tears.

In addition to its use in ophthalmic liquids, hypromellose has been used as an excipient in oral tablet and capsule formulations, where, depending on the grade, it functions as controlled release agent to delay the release of a medicinal compound into the digestive tract.