Traditional Chinese Medicine Concentrated Pill refers to a pill made by concentrating a portion of the extracted medicinal herbs into a paste with another portion of medicinal herbs in fine powder or adding suitable excipients.

Features: Small size, small dosage, easy to take, increased efficacy, and saved a lot of excipients; Convenient to carry and transport, both in line with the characteristics of traditional Chinese medicine and suitable for mechanized production.

Classification: According to the excipient, it can be divided into concentrated honey pills, concentrated water honey pills, and concentrated water pills.

　　Concentrated pill preparation method:

The preparation of concentrated pills can be done by molding and pan molding methods, which are the same as honey pills (small pills with mechanism) and water pills.

　　1. Molding method

According to the properties of traditional Chinese medicinal herbs in the prescription, extract effective ingredients by boiling and concentrating them into a paste; Mix well with fine powder of other medicinal ingredients, and then add appropriate honey to make pills with suitable softness and hardness. According to the honey pill method, pills can be made, and concentrated paste can also be used as a binder; Add fine powder of medicine or appropriate excipients, mix to make pellets with suitable softness and hardness, use mechanical extrusion to make pellets, dry, sieve, polish, and coat wet pellets.

　　2. Universal method

Concentrate the decoction or extract of some medicinal herbs in the formula into a paste as a binder and mix it with fine powder of other herbs to form pills. Alternatively, mix the thick paste with fine powder of medicinal herbs into blocks and dry them. Grind into fine powder and use cold water or ethanol of different concentrations as a wetting agent to make pills.

Generally speaking, when there is less ointment and more powder in a prescription, the pan method should be used; The paste can be made into small pills mechanically according to the compatibility with the powder; When there is too much ointment and too little powder, it is advisable to use the molding method. To ensure the quality and efficacy of the concentrated pills, attention should be paid to the following aspects:

Processing of medicinal herbs: Analyze which herbs are used as ointment and which herbs are ground according to the prescription. Proper processing must be carried out based on the properties and therapeutic effects of the herbs, so as to reduce their volume and enhance their therapeutic effect. Generally speaking, some of the medicinal materials in the prescription are soft and fragile, contain a lot of powder, are valuable fine ingredients, and have a small amount or strong effect. They should be crushed into fine powder and kept as molds and absorbents for the extract. Medicinal herbs with large volume, hard texture, and high fiber content are suitable for making ointments.

The process of extracting and concentrating into a paste should ideally not result in the loss of active ingredients. Therefore, different methods should be adopted for extraction based on the texture of the medicinal materials and the properties of the active ingredients required for clinical use. If the medicinal materials contain volatile components, the volatile oil or aromatic perfume should be extracted first. Medicinal herbs containing active ingredients that are prone to decomposition when exposed to heat should not be directly heated. The percolation method is more appropriate. General medicinal herbs can be extracted from their decoction and concentrated into a paste. The solvent should also be selected appropriately based on the properties of the medicinal herbs, such as water, ethanol, or a mixture of water and alcohol solvents.

The concentration temperature should be low. When it is too high, the effective ingredients are easily destroyed and prone to burning. It is better to concentrate under reduced pressure or thin film concentration. The consistency of the paste should depend on the amount of powder, and it is generally better to use it up: if it is too thin and has a large volume, it cannot be used up completely; Too thick and labor-intensive, making it difficult to mix. Preparation of extract powder: When preparing concentrated pills using the pan method, extract powder needs to be prepared first. The quality of this powder directly affects the efficacy of the finished product, and the key to powder production lies in the drying of the extract. Nowadays, spray drying and low temperature decompression drying methods are mostly used by domestic pharmaceutical factories to dry the extract. Its dry paste block has a light color, a crisp texture, is easy to crush, and has a strong medicinal taste. If the paste dried under normal pressure has a black cross-section with a glassy shape, it is extremely difficult to crush and has a burnt taste, resulting in poor therapeutic effect of the finished product.