Capsugel, a company that specializes in capsule technologies, said on it will invest more than $25 million to increase production capacity and further enhance the quality of its vegetarian capsule range.
This comes in response to a surge in global demand for the manufacturer's vegetarian dosage forms.
The company is establishing new production lines and upgrading technology at four of its manufacturing locations: Greenwood, South Carolina; Puebla, Mexico; Colmar, France; and Sagamihara, Japan.
"Consumers' appetite for clean-label products is at an all-time high, and continuing to grow. This trend has contributed to a significant increase in demand for high-quality vegetarian capsules," commented Guido Driesen, president and CEO of Capsugel.
"Clean label" is a term used by manufacturers to describe products that may be free from artificial ingredients, allergens, or ingredients of animal origin.
Driesen continued: "Capsugel has the world's broadest and largest portfolio of vegetarian capsules for both the health & nutrition and pharmaceutical segments. By continuing to invest in capacity and quality, we are further strengthening our ability to meet the growing demand we are seeing from customers around the world."
Capsugel's vegetarian offerings include Vcaps, Vcaps Plus, DRcaps and Plantcaps capsules, all of which are preservative-free, gluten-free and contain no genetically modified organisms.
The company is investing in all four of its vegetarian products, with a particular emphasis on ramping up production of its premium Vcaps Plus capsules. These are said to deliver outstanding performance on customers' filling machines, provide dynamic branding opportunities and potentially offer technical advantages for pharmaceutical product formulations.
