A drug carrier system, such as starter pellets, allows coating and layering with APIs and excipients, resulting in better formulations of pharmaceutical products. Drug carrier systems can improve drug availabiliy, assist formulations, or realize higher safety for the API:
- Multiple small discrete units are coated with the API
- Unit sizes are between 100 and 1400 µm
- Variability in systemic absorption
- Reduced risk, for example dose dumping
- Better compliance by taste masking, palatability
- Easy to swallow (geriatric medicine)
There is a large scientific community and publications on research on microcrystalline cellulose pellets serving as drug carrier.
More general information about drug carrier system on wikipedia.