Article by Federica Giatti, Lorenzo Menarini, Caterina Funaro, Fabrizio Consoli, and Fabiano Ferrini at IMA Active.
Oral drug administration is the most convenient administration route for patients. Oral products include single-unit dosage forms (SUDFs) and multiple-unit dosage forms (MUDFs). SUDFs have a single core, which may contain the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) mixed with excipients or may be neutral and coated with a layer containing the API. MUDFs consist of small particles that are typically contained in a capsule or a tablet. Their most important benefit is that the small particles more evenly distribute in the gastrointestinal tract than a single core does, resulting in less variance in transit time through the gastrointestinal tract compared to SUDFs.