Colours play an incredibly crucial role in pharmaceuticals. Companies that manufacture medicines, ranging from syrups, hard gelatine capsules, soft gelatine capsules and even ointments, spend a lot of time and effort in colour coding their products.
For starters, the colours of medications begin their impact even before a person has consumed them; colours aid people to differentiate between non-prescription and prescription pharmaceuticals and help them remember to drink them as prescribed. The New York Times famously dubbed the failure to take prescription drugs as recommended as the world’s “other drug problem.”
If you are manufacturing pharmaceuticals, you probably already have a colour coding scheme for your products based on your marketing strategy. However, the world of pharma colours is fascinating, and in this piece, we’d like to dive a little deeper into this world.
What are the different types of pharma colours?
Like any other industry, colours come from pigments in the pharma. There are different types of pigments used in pharma colour manufacturing. Below, we have shortlisted some kinds of pharma colours you can use in your manufacturing process:
- Organic and inorganic pigments – Pigments are mainly insoluble colouring substances, either organic or inorganic. Organic pigments are usually more colourfast, brighter and generally more expensive. On the other hand, inorganic pigments are less costly but have poor colour fastness properties.
- Water-soluble colours – Several medicines are water-soluble by nature, and the colour coating on them is also done using water-soluble colours. Water-soluble colours come in powder and granular forms, and they dissolve fast in the water.
- Organic lakes – Organic lakes are used widely by manufacturers, and it is obtained by precipitating water-soluble dyes onto an inert binder, such as alumina hydrate. The resulting mix is water-insoluble lakes which are used widely in pharma manufacturing.
Fascinating Facts About Pharma Colours
What colour of dyes and organic lakes will pharma manufacturers use? This is primarily a marketing decision and is also dependent on the nature of the product.
However, there are many collateral effects of the colour choice. We have listed some essential benefits of picking the right colour for the right product below. So if you are a pharma manufacturer, you may consider these factors for your colour choices:
Colour psychology and the placebo effect
It might be hard to believe, but the colour of a particular medicine induces a specific perception of it in the consumer’s mind. So if there are compressed tablets of red and blue colour each, the former will be associated with a stimulant effect while the latter will induce a tranquilising effect.
In addition, there is a placebo effect linked with the colour choices of medications since patients report recovering faster when the colour of their medication is in line with the desired effects. For example, anti-anxiety pills are often green, which stimulates a calming effect instead of a bolder colour like red or orange.
Different colours are helpful for the distinction
Unsurprisingly, different colours help distinguish between different types of medicines. This is especially useful for older adults, who often keep tabs on their medication by colour.
For example, they might keep tabs on their pills by remembering to take the blue pill after lunch and the white pill after dinner! Additionally, pharmacists also associate certain pills with colours, making it easier to label them accurately.
Neelikon’s promise
At Neelikon, we offer customised blends that guarantee a high purity product. All our Pharma colours are either US FDA approved or permitted as per EU legislation and highly renowned in the market.
Our diverse range of offerings will surely help you find what you are looking for in your pharmaceutical product. For more information, we encourage you to write to us at-info@neelikon.com.
