Oystershell is a business focused on breakthrough innovation. “Our company has always been about bringing efficacy, functionality and improved safety to consumers,” says Mike Van Ganse. These innovations range from developing and marketing novel products in dermatology and insect treatments, to nutraceutical and mineral supplements.

“That is the real DNA of our company,” continues Van Ganse. “Good examples of our combination of high-level scientific and engineering work include a pesticide-free lice treatment, and a marketable wart treatment that is contained in a compressed cartridge. This allows to achieve an effective temperature of minus 80°C.”

For Laurens De Schepper, head of R&D at Oystershell, the Liquishell innovation is part of this tradition of cutting-edge engineering. “This is a totally different product to the two mentioned examples, but the approach is similar,” he explains. “The development of Liquishell has not just been a question of formulation, but also one of engineering and design.”

Redesigning oral dosage forms

Health and nutraceutical supplements have traditionally come in tablet or capsule main form. The emergence of gummies is helping to expand the scope of this sector to a larger consumer base.

“Why is it that the gummy market is booming?” asks De Schepper. “It is because they offer consumers convenience and are more pleasant to take than a tablet. So, we began to think about what the next generation of oral dosage forms might be.”

This led to the development of Liquishell. At the heart of this innovation is the company’s patented multi-phase technology. This gives customers – across a range of sectors – the ability to deliver a product with a liquid centre, inside a shell matrix. “This is what makes Liquishell different – the ability to put an aqueous-based liquid formulation inside a chewable shell,” says De Schepper.

Enhanced functionality

This enhanced functionality is central to Liquishell’s appeal. Both De Schepper and Van Ganse see the innovation as giving customers the opportunity to think more creatively and deliver products with multiple functionalities.

“You could imagine having one ingredient in the liquid centre that is immediately released upon bite,” says De Schepper. “And you could also have an active ingredient, contained in the gummy, dissolving slowly in the mouth to deliver a more prolonged release. This means manufacturers could combine two previously incompatible ingredients in one dose.”

This could also mean optimising taste and appearance. Some ingredients when they interact will affect the taste or colour – the Liquishell innovation is able to individualise and separate such ingredients. “Containing and separating active ingredients in both the centre and shell therefore make this a different proposition to standard chewables, which act more like a sachet, holding the active ingredient,” says De Schepper.

In addition to delivering this double action, the chewable shell is certified as vegetarian. The fact that it is a chewable also makes it potentially safer than hard tablets, which can pose a choking hazard. “We can also pre-stabilise and pre-solubilise ingredients, to increase their bioavailability,” adds Van Ganse. “For consumers, this means faster action, and faster effects.”

Identifying new application opportunities

The Oystershell team will be at Vitafoods Insights to present its Liquishell innovation platform. Van Ganse sees the application possibilities as almost endless, with combinations of different ingredients possible and a range of targeted uses in the nutraceutical sector and beyond.

“We call this an innovation platform because the potential applications for manufacturers are so broad,” agrees De Schepper. “We’ll be giving examples of prototypes products using our technology. What we really want to do though is challenge visitors, to get their feedback and to encourage them to imagine what is possible with this technology.”

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