Learning Objective

• Introduction and definition of pills

A pill is a small, round and unit solid pharmaceutical oral dosage form that was in use before the advent of tablets and capsules. They are prepared by blending or mixing the active ingredients with selected excipient glucose syrup in a mortar and pestle resulting in a paste, then rolling the resultant mass into a long cylindrical shape (pipe) and dividing it into equal portions. These portions are then rolled into balls and coated with sugar to make them more palatable. In a broad sense even tablet, capsules and caplets are still collectively referred to as “pills.”