In the century-old history of capsules, gelatin has always maintained its position as the mainstream capsule material due to its wide range of sources, stable physical and chemical properties, and excellent processing performance. With the increase of people’s preference for capsules, hollow capsules are more widely used in the fields of medicine and health food. However, the occurrence and spread of mad cow disease and foot-and-mouth disease have raised concerns about animal-derived products. The most commonly used raw materials for gelatin are cattle and pig bones and skins. In order to reduce the safety risk of empty capsules, experts in the industry continue to research and develop suitable plant-derived capsule materials.

In fact, Pfizer took the lead in launching two plant-based capsules, hydroxypropyl methylcellulose hollow capsules Vcaps TM and pullulan, in the US market in 1997. Since then, Japan, Austria, and South Korea have successfully developed vegetable capsules with seaweed, corn starch, etc. as raw materials. At present, cellulose ethers (such as hydroxypropyl methylcellulose, etc.), plant polysaccharides (such as pullulan, alginic acid, carrageenan and agar, etc.) and plant starches (such as modified corn starch) have been formed internationally. , potato starch and sweet potato starch, etc.) represent three types of new vegetable capsule products with different raw materials.

Vegetable capsule industry is developing rapidly:

The global capsule and sub-industry plant capsules are developing rapidly. With the development of economies around the world and the improvement of people’s living standards, global medical and health care expenditures continue to increase. In 2017, the revenue of the global pharmaceutical industry has reached 1.2 trillion US dollars, and it is expected to maintain a compound annual growth rate of nearly 5% in the next few years. In 2016, the sales volume of the global healthcare product market was US$118.5 billion, and it is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 3.9% between 2016 and 2021. With the development of the downstream medical health and health care products industry, capsules, as an auxiliary material for medicine and health care products, have been deepening market penetration and showing faster growth. According to Markets and Markets statistics, in 2017, the global capsule market reached US$1.79 billion, and the capsule industry is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 7.4% by 2023. According to the statistics of Zion Market Research, the global plant capsule market space in 2016 was about 280 million US dollars, and it is expected to reach 510 million US dollars by 2022, with an estimated compound annual growth rate of 10.6%. The global vegetable capsule market only accounts for 15% to 20% of the total capsule market, and there is a lot of room for growth in the future.

The continuous penetration of vegetable capsules into animal capsules is a future development trend. Pharmaceutical grade HPMC is the main raw material for the production of HPMC vegetable capsules, accounting for more than 90% of the raw materials of HPMC vegetable capsules. The prepared vegetable capsules are safe and hygienic, have wide applicability, no risk of cross-linking reactions, high stability, and are easily accepted by Muslims It is one of the important supplements and ideal substitutes for animal gelatin capsules. The demand for plant capsules in foreign markets has grown rapidly. my country started late in the field of plant capsules, with small production and sales, and great potential for future market demand. In recent years, the state has investigated and dealt with enterprises that illegally produce and use unqualified capsules, and the public’s awareness of food and drug safety has improved, which has promoted the standardized operation and industrial upgrading of the domestic gelatin capsule industry. It is expected that plant capsules will become one of the important directions for the upgrading of the hollow capsule industry in the future, and will be an important growth point for the demand for pharmaceutical grade HPMC in the domestic market in the future. In overseas markets, the proportion of plant capsules in the total capsules is getting higher and higher. The United States requires that the market share of plant capsules reach more than 80% within a few years, and the development space of plant capsules is broad.

From a global perspective, the production of hollow capsules is relatively concentrated. The market shares (in terms of sales amount) of the five largest manufacturers total nearly 70%, which are:

(1) Capsugel has nine hollow capsule production bases in the world, supplying most of the world, especially developed countries and regions; 3 research and development centers, constantly exploring the production process, equipment, new products and new applications of hollow capsules , independently developed the hollow capsule production line with the highest production efficiency and leading control technology in the world, and developed unique capsule products and equipment suitable for each stage of capsule research and development;

(2) Qualicaps is a capsule company headquartered in Japan. It has a century-old capsule production history and has 5 production bases around the world. The sales volume of its main product, Qualicaps?, accounts for 9% of the gelatin empty capsule market. Sectional empty capsules, the trade name is Quali-V?, the current market share is 3%;

(3) Associated is a company headquartered in India. In addition to two factories producing two-section hollow hard capsule products, it also operates packaging materials and pharmaceutical equipment. Associated’s non-gelatin empty capsules are still in their infancy;

(4) Suheung is a Korean capsule manufacturer, which was founded in 1973. It has two production bases in South Korea and Vietnam. It currently has a global market share of 3%. It is a major supplier in the Korean domestic market and also operates soft rubber

capsule business;

(5) Farmacapsules is headquartered in the United States and mainly supplies part of the American and European markets.

In the future, the domestic capsule industry will present a situation where foreign capital and domestic giants are fully committed. With the gradual implementation of GMP for pharmaceutical excipients, capsule manufacturers with low technology levels and outdated production equipment will be gradually eliminated, and pharmaceutical hollow capsule manufacturers with advanced production equipment, process technology and diversified sales channels will occupy the largest share of the market. market dominance. In the future, my country’s pharmaceutical hollow capsule industry will enter a stage of rapid integration, and the competition will mainly be carried out between large-scale domestic capsule manufacturers and manufacturers with foreign capital background in the industry. Domestic and foreign-funded enterprises are vying for the throne, and enterprises with unique advantages (such as integration and differentiation advantages) are expected to win the competition and achieve long-term development.