Pharmaceutical Industry High Demand To Empty Capsules

Empty capsules, also known as empty gelatin capsules or empty vegetarian capsules, are capsules made of pharmaceutical gelatin plus excipients refined from the cap and body of two sections of the capsule shell, mainly used to hold solid and liquid drugs, such as homemade bulk, health products, pharmaceuticals, etc., for you to solve the problem of difficult to enter, poor taste.

According to the "Global and China Empty Capsule Industry, 2021 Deep Research Report" published by Synopsys Industry Research Center, the global empty capsule industry market size will grow from USD 2.75 billion in 2021 to USD 4.02 billion in 2026, at a CAGR of 7.9%.

The growth in the global empty capsules market size is mainly due to the increasing adoption of capsule formulations by the elderly population, growing demand for empty capsules in the pharmaceutical market and lower manufacturing costs in emerging markets, all of which will present some favourable market opportunities for empty capsules.

Among which gelatin-based empty capsules account for the largest share of the overall market.

On the basis of type, the empty capsules market is segmented into gelatin capsules and non-gelatin capsules, with gelatin empty capsules accounting for the largest market share of empty capsules.

Gelatin empty capsules

Various advantages of gelatin capsules, such as fast drug release, uniform drug mixing, and barrier to atmospheric oxygen (preventing oxidation of drug molecules) stand out, making gelatin material the preferred choice for manufacturing empty capsules.

On the other hand,rapid release capsules will account for the largest share of the empty capsules market.

On the basis of function, the empty capsules market is segmented into immediate-release and slow-release capsules, with immediate-release capsules accounting for the largest market share of the empty capsules market.

Immediate release capsules are widely used in the manufacture of antibiotics, antibacterial agents, antacids, painkillers, inhalers, cold and cough medication formulations and dietary supplements, which are widely used, increasing the market share of the immediate release capsules.

Actually,antibiotics and antimicrobials accounted for the largest share of market demand for empty capsules.

On the basis of application drugs, the empty capsules market can be segmented into antibiotics and antibacterial drugs, dietary supplements, antacid and anti-gas preparations, anti-anaemic preparations (haemoglobin), anti-inflammatory drugs, cardiovascular therapeutics, cough and cold medicines and other therapeutic applications.

Of these, the antibiotics and antibacterial applications segment accounts for the largest share of the empty capsules market.

The dietary supplements segment is expected to grow at the highest CAGR in the future during the forecast period. Factors such as rising health awareness and affordability in emerging countries (e.g. China, India and Brazil), increasing prevalence of lifestyle diseases and increasing availability of vitamin capsules as over-the-counter (OTC) drugs are driving the market size of this segment.

North America emerges as the largest regional market for empty capsules globally

On the basis of geography, North America and Europe are the two largest regional markets for empty capsules globally, with North America accounting for the largest share of the global market. Emerging markets in Asia Pacific and Latin America are expected to grow at a very high growth rate during the forecast period as increasing emphasis on quality pharmaceutical products and generics also leads to increased demand for empty capsules.

The key competitors in the global empty capsules industry market include Capsugel (U.S.), ACG Worldwide (India), Qualicaps (U.S.), Suheung Co. Ltd. (South Korea), CapsCanada Corporation (Canada), Aipak Pharma and others.

Medicinal empty capsules are an important medicinal excipient, consisting of a cap and body capsule shell refined from medicinal capsule material plus excipients, mainly used to contain solid drugs, such as home-made bulk, health products, pharmaceuticals, etc.

Depending on the material of the capsule shell, pharmaceutical empty capsules are generally divided into gelatin empty capsules, enteric gelatin hollow capsules and vegetable hollow capsules.

Comparison of the main types of pharmaceutical hollow capsules

With the accelerated ageing of the population and the full implementation of medical insurance subsidies, the domestic demand for capsule drugs is growing and the pharmaceutical empty capsule industry has gained significant development.

In China,the production of pharmaceutical empty capsules can not only meet domestic demand, but also rapidly expand to overseas markets, in 2019 China's pharmaceutical empty capsules production reached about 550 billion, the number of exports for the same period is 50 billion.

For investors, there are four main thresholds in the pharmaceutical hollow capsule industry, one of which is the qualification barrier, pharmaceutical empty capsules are an important pharmaceutical excipient, the quality of which directly affects the safety and stability of drugs.

In order to ensure the quality of drugs, the state in the pharmaceutical industry access to excipients, production qualifications and other aspects of a series of laws and regulations.

The second is the technical process barriers, as one of the important pharmaceutical excipients,

The use of empty capsules of pharmaceutical companies is increasingly and standardized, diversified, thus the overall technical level of the pharmaceutical empty capsules industry and R & D capabilities also put forward higher requirements;

The third is the financial barriers. Production process innovation, product formulation trial and new varieties of research and development require enterprises to invest a lot of money;

The fourth is the brand and marketing channels barriers, as one of the pharmaceutical excipients, the sales of pharmaceutical empty  capsules have a wide range of customer markets, industry dispersion, single customer sales are not high, therefore, pharmaceutical empty capsules business marketing objects are mainly concentrated in the downstream many pharmaceutical preparations and a part of the health care products enterprise.

The relationship between supply and demand is relatively stable and suppliers are generally not easily changed.