Build a custom oral dissolving film around your active, target dose, flavor, mouthfeel, dissolve target, packaging, and commercial plan.
What this category is for
You searched this site for your ingredient and did not find it. That is the usual starting point for custom work: a specific active or branded ingredient, a dose or dissolve target the market does not already offer, a multi-layer or extended-dissolve design, or a flavor and brand experience the founder will not compromise on. The buyers are ingredient companies that want their compound shown in a finished format, brands with a hero capsule formula that needs translating, clinics with a defined protocol, and founders whose concept begins with an active rather than a category. The four questions are always load, taste, stability and claims. The answers depend on the active.
The sequence is fixed even when the product is not. It begins with a written brief: active, target amount per serving, form and supplier, flavor direction, strip count, package, launch market, claims under consideration. Feasibility then asks whether that active at that amount fits a 22 × 32 mm film of acceptable taste, moisture, strength and 30- to 60-second dissolve; roughly 250 mg of single active is the practical top. Development rounds run against written sensory and technical criteria. The qualified 500-box pilot follows, with sachets, cartons, testing coordination and batch documentation, and a controlled reorder specification closes it. Two regulatory dates belong in the brief from day one: a new dietary ingredient needs a premarket notification to FDA at least 75 days before marketing, and a structure/function claim needs the standard disclaimer plus notification to FDA within 30 days of first marketing.
Actives brands ask about
| Active | Common on labels | In a film | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Your active (any category) | Defined by the brief: the amount per serving you need and the form and supplier you plan to use | Feasibility sorts actives into four bands: microgram actives (vitamins, melatonin) fit easily; low-mg actives (caffeine, theanine, iron) fit with flavor work; 100–250 mg extracts set the strip size; multi-hundred-mg actives need multiple strips or a positioning change. | — |
| Branded or patented ingredients | Supplier-defined study dose, e.g., 300 mg for KSM-66 in its registered trials | Feasibility checks whether the study dose fits one strip; if not, a multi-strip serving or a lower 'support' amount is a brand decision. Supplier documentation feeds the ingredient file. | source |
| Bitter, astringent or aromatic actives | Botanicals, caffeine, minerals, vinegar | Needs masking through sweetener systems, flavor load, cooling agents or encapsulated forms. Sensory criteria are written before rounds start. | — |
| Oil-soluble or colored actives | Vitamin D3, E, CoQ10, curcumin, mushroom and berry extracts | Needs a dispersible or dry form, and the appearance spec has to accept the color the active brings. | — |
| Moisture-, heat- or light-sensitive actives | NAD+, vitamin C, melatonin, probiotics | Stability is tied to the package and storage condition against the 24-month target. Probiotic viability through drying needs evidence before the label is written; scope is set per active. | — |
| New dietary ingredients and regulatory-sensitive compounds | Project-specific; an NDI needs a 75-day premarket notification unless the supplier already holds an accepted one | Custom-scoped with explicit boundaries. The peptide feasibility guide on this site explains what is and is not in scope; read it before submitting a brief. | source |
Formats that fit
- Strip size and thickness set by the active load — custom projects start with the load and derive the strip, not the reverse
- 20- or 30-count carton with individual sachets — the default pilot configuration, count matched to the directions
- Multi-strip serving sachets — when the study dose needs two or three strips
- Multi-layer or extended-dissolve films — for concepts where release timing or two incompatible actives require separation
Where these products sell
- Ingredient companies demonstrating their compound in a finished format
- Brands translating an existing hero formula into a strip
- Clinics and practitioners with a defined protocol
- Founders starting from an active rather than a category
- Brands whose category exists on this site but whose dose, dissolve or flavor target is outside the norm
Move into a 500-box pilot.
Once the development and commercial specifications are aligned, a qualified project can move toward a 500-box pilot: roughly 10,000 strips in 20-count boxes or 15,000 strips in 30-count boxes. The pilot validates product, packaging, documentation, and market response before a larger run.
Common questions
Send the brief. Feasibility weighs the amount per serving against strip area and thickness (about 250 mg of single active is the practical top for a 22 × 32 mm film), the active's taste and color, its moisture and heat sensitivity, and how it behaves in the film-forming system. The dose-loading guide on this site explains the bands; the answer for your active comes from review.
Three options: a multi-strip serving, a lower 'support' amount with different positioning, or a larger and thicker strip with a longer dissolve. Which is right is a brand decision that feasibility informs.
Private label adapts a proven concept; custom starts from your active and builds the film around it, with development rounds against your written criteria. The comparison guide on this site walks through when each is the right choice.
Yes. Once feasibility and development produce an approved specification, the qualified pilot is the same 500 boxes, roughly 10,000 strips in 20-count or 15,000 in 30-count, and it validates product, package, documentation and market response before a larger run.
Yes, two ways: we source branded ingredients through authorized supply channels, or we qualify customer-supplied branded material after supplier and incoming-material qualification. The same applies to Testofen, Libifem, Shoden, Zembrin, Affron, Reducose and similar actives. Bring the supplier's specification and any NDI paperwork with the brief.
As custom development, not as a standard quick-turn SKU. A multi-layer or extended-release claim requires separate formulation and process qualification.
Probiotics, yes: current development inputs span roughly 5 to 17 billion CFU per strip depending on strain and system, with potency formulated to support the labeled CFU at expiry. Dietary protein- and peptide-derived ingredients such as collagen can be scoped where they are lawful food ingredients. Drug and research peptides are excluded from the dietary-supplement program.
For a US supplement, a structure/function claim carries the standard FDA disclaimer in bold type no smaller than 1/16 inch, and the brand notifies FDA within 30 days of first marketing with the claim text and the ingredient it refers to. If any ingredient is a new dietary ingredient without an accepted notification, the 75-day premarket filing comes first. The brand owns both; we confirm responsibilities during qualification.
Yes. Digital print and soft-touch finishes are generally available at 500 cartons; foil, hot stamping and embossing depend on supplier setup and minimums. Kids projects can have distinct artwork, flavors, unit counts and secondary packaging, with additional safety and regulatory review for age-specific dosing and claims.