Q&A with Dr. Tze Ning Hiew: Engineering Safer Film Coating for Pills

The film coating on the outside of pills often contains a substance called an opacifier that helps protect a drug’s active ingredients from exposure to light, which can cause them to degrade and shorten a medicine’s shelf life.

Tze Ning Hiew, PhD, an assistant professor at the University of Iowa College of Pharmacy, received a 2024 PhRMA Foundation Faculty Starter Grant in Drug Delivery for her research to develop better opacifiers for pharmaceutical use.

Titanium dioxide the most used opacifier in pharmaceutical products, is currently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as safe for use in drugs; however, it has been banned as a food additive in the European Union, raising concerns about a potential ban for pharmaceutical use as well.

“If we do not have a good opacifier to replace titanium dioxide should there be a ban on its continued use … we may run into a situation where we could potentially be looking at drug product shortage or even simply withdrawal from the market, and this could potentially then affect patients’ access to potentially life-saving treatments,” Hiew explained.

Watch this video to learn about Hiew and her research.