Pellets as a dosage form for drugs in aquaculture: technological aspects

Fish feed pellets are usually manufactured by extrusion of a steam-conditio ned meal. However, since high temperatures are involved in this process, it is often not suitable for incorporation of drugs. The pharmaceutical indus try uses a variety of pelletization techniques to cope with this problem. T o the pharmaceutical industry, pellets are spherical particles with a diame ter between 0.25 and 1.5 mm. The most popular pharmaceutical pelletization processes nowadays are the layering of drugs onto inert cores and the extru sion-spheronization process. Other processes such as the wet granulation te chnique in the rotary processor seem to be promising. This wet granulation technique in the rotary processor was used to produce pellets containing a gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogue and penetration enhancers. This pel let formulation was able to induce ovulation in fish.