QuickRelease™ technology: how an oral dissolvable strip is built, and how fast it dissolves

Last updated: 2026-10

A Smart Strips oral dissolvable strip dissolves on the tongue in 7 to 30 seconds, while the European Pharmacopoeia allows an ordinary uncoated tablet up to 15 minutes simply to break apart in a laboratory test. The difference lies in how the strip is built: a water-soluble film of pullulan and plant cellulose, made with QuickRelease™, the patent-pending Smart Strips formulation for fast release.

Picture the same morning twice. In the first, a tablet waits next to a glass you have not filled yet. In the second, the strip has already gone before the kettle clicks off. This article covers the material side of that second morning: what an oral film is by definition, what each ingredient in the base of a Smart Strips strip does, how its dissolving time compares with tablets and capsules, and why the format carries milligrams rather than grams. For the category overview, start with what oral dissolvable strips are. For the route a dose takes once the strip has dissolved, read sublingual vs swallowed supplements.

What is an oral thin film, by definition?

An oral thin film is a sheet designed to fall apart in the mouth within moments. The European Pharmacopoeia, as cited in a 2022 review, defines orodispersible films as "single or multilayered sheets of suitable materials to be placed in the mouth where they disperse rapidly" (Cupone et al., 2022). The same review lists what such a film has to deliver: rapid dispersion in the mouth, enough mechanical strength to be handled without damage, and appropriate release of the active substance.

The definition gives no number. "Rapidly" comes without a count of seconds, and a 2023 review observes that the pharmacopoeia "gives a very limited requirement for ODF manufacturing and testing" (Ferlak et al., 2023). Any speed figure for a film should therefore travel with the method used to measure it, which is how the numbers further down are presented.

The format has a long record in medicine. In 2009 a fentanyl buccal film for pain was approved in the US (BioDelivery Sciences, 2009). In 2010 ondansetron films for nausea were approved in the US (Drugs.com) and, through a decentralised procedure, in Europe (Manufacturing Chemist, 2010). Oral films have been part of medicines approved in the US and Europe ever since, and most of what is known about how films behave comes from that pharmaceutical work.

What is pullulan, and where does it come from?

Pullulan is a polysaccharide made from starch by fermentation, and it is the main film former in every Smart Strips strip. It is produced from food-grade hydrolysed starch using a non-toxin-producing strain of the microorganism Aureobasidium pullulans, as both the JECFA specification and the EU specification for food additive E 1204 describe (JECFA, 2005; Commission Directive 2008/84/EC).

Its safety file is recent. In 2025 EFSA completed a re-evaluation of pullulan and concluded that "there is no need for a numerical ADI for pullulan (E 1204)", finding "no safety concern for the currently reported uses and use levels" (EFSA, 2025). ADI stands for acceptable daily intake, the amount regulators consider safe to consume every day.

On the tongue, pullulan is close to invisible. A food-science paper describes pullulan coatings as "colourless, odourless and have no taste" (Chlebowska-Śmigiel and Gniewosz, 2009). That neutrality is useful in a product held in the mouth: the taste you notice is the flavour chosen for the formula, with nothing from the film beneath it.

It is also a costly material. A 2022 review notes that pullulan "is very expensive, so it is usually used in combination with other polymers" (Cupone et al., 2022). In our base, that second polymer is HPMC.

What is a Smart Strips strip made of?

Every Smart Strips strip is built on one base, and each formula's active ingredients are carried inside it. Here is the base, ingredient by ingredient, with its role in plain words:

• Pullulan. The main film former. It gives the strip its body and dissolves in saliva.
• HPMC (hydroxypropyl methylcellulose). A plant-derived cellulose that forms the film together with pullulan.
• Vegetable glycerin. The plasticiser. It keeps the film supple, so it bends rather than cracks as you take it out.
• Xanthan gum and gum arabic. Thickeners and stabilisers that keep the mixture even, so the active ingredients are spread uniformly through the film.
• Sunflower lecithin. An emulsifier that helps ingredients which do not mix easily with water stay evenly dispersed.
• Citric acid. Adjusts acidity and brightens the taste.
• Stevia. A plant-derived sweetener.
• Natural flavour. The taste you notice first.
• Filtered water. The medium in which everything is combined before the film is dried.

How is the strip put together?

In outline, the base and the active ingredients are mixed with filtered water into an even liquid, formed into a thin sheet and dried, then cut into single strips. Each strip is sealed in its own sachet of 8 by 5 cm. The individual seal protects a film that is sensitive to moisture, which is also why a strip should be handled with dry fingers.

Smart Strips are made in the USA, in an FDA registered, cGMP certified facility. You can read more on our manufacturing page.

What is QuickRelease™?

QuickRelease™ is the patent-pending Smart Strips formulation for fast release: the way the base is composed and combined with each formula, so that every strip in the range dissolves on the tongue in 7 to 30 seconds. The formulation itself is our own. What this article sets out is its result and the published standards that place that result in context.

Fast release matters because of where it happens. Part of the dose is absorbed through the lining of the mouth, and that part avoids first-pass metabolism in the liver; part is swallowed with saliva and absorbed like any supplement. We sum up what the strip format promises over a swallowed tablet as up to 95% bioavailability, up to 4x faster absorption and up to 30% higher effectiveness. How much a given ingredient gains depends on the molecule and the dose, which is the subject of what bioavailability really means. Numbered sources for the mechanism are collected on our Science page.

How fast does an oral strip dissolve compared with tablets and capsules?

Seconds, against minutes. In the European Pharmacopoeia disintegration test, an uncoated tablet is given 15 minutes, and a film-coated tablet or a hard or soft capsule 30 minutes, to disintegrate (Ph. Eur. monographs 0478 and 0016). For orally disintegrating tablets, a medicine format designed to break up in the mouth, the US FDA recommends a disintegration time of "approximately 30 seconds or less" (FDA, 2008). A Smart Strips strip dissolves on the tongue in 7 to 30 seconds.

Published film data fall in the same range. In a laboratory test, a 2 by 2 cm pullulan film placed in a Petri dish with 10 mL of buffer disintegrated in "below 25 s" and had disappeared into solution within 40 seconds (Gupta et al., 2023). Films of several medicines have also been tested in people against the matching tablet; in one such study, complete dissolution within 1 minute was confirmed in all 53 healthy volunteers (Radicioni et al., 2017).

Read the pharmacopoeial times as what they are: upper limits in a laboratory apparatus, set for whole categories of product. Disintegration is also only the first step. Absorption is a separate process that begins after it.

Is the 7-second ritual the same as the dissolving time?

No. The 7-second ritual is the gesture itself: tear the sachet, take out the strip, place it on your tongue. The dissolving that follows takes its own 7 to 30 seconds. Let it finish in your mouth without chewing; the practical details are in how to take supplements without water.

Why does one strip carry milligrams, not grams?

Because a film has to stay small and light to dissolve that quickly. A 2023 review states that orodispersible films "must be small, lightweight (up to 500 mg), and must disintegrate within 30 s" (Ferlak et al., 2023), and an earlier review notes that "oral films are not generally suitable for treatments requiring high dosages" (Scarpa et al., 2017). Those 500 mg are the whole film, base included. For comparison, a standard size 0 capsule holds about 544 mg of powder at a typical density (Capsugel, 2013).

Every Smart Strips formula is designed inside that boundary. IMMUNE carries 35 µg of vitamin D3, Z-z-Zen 1 mg of melatonin, and the largest single active ingredient in the range is 80 mg, in NMN and in the L-tyrosine of AFTR PARTY. A gram of vitamin C will never fit in a strip. When a goal calls for gram doses, a capsule or a powder is the better tool, as our comparison of strips, pills, capsules and gummies explains.

If you are pregnant, nursing, taking medication or have a medical condition, consult your doctor before using any supplement.

The format explains itself best in practice: dry fingers, one strip on the tongue, and half a minute at most. Explore the full Smart Strips range.

FAQ

What is QuickRelease™ technology?

QuickRelease™ is the patent-pending Smart Strips formulation for fast release. It combines a pullulan and HPMC film base with each formula's active ingredients, so that every strip dissolves on the tongue in 7 to 30 seconds.

What are Smart Strips made of?

Pullulan, HPMC, vegetable glycerin, xanthan gum, gum arabic, sunflower lecithin, citric acid, stevia, natural flavour and filtered water, plus the active ingredients of each formula.

What is pullulan, and is it safe to eat?

Pullulan is a polysaccharide made by fermenting starch with Aureobasidium pullulans. It is authorised in the EU as food additive E 1204, and EFSA's 2025 re-evaluation found no need for a numerical acceptable daily intake.

How long does an oral strip take to dissolve?

A Smart Strips strip dissolves on the tongue in 7 to 30 seconds. In a published laboratory test, a pullulan film disintegrated in below 25 seconds.

How long does a tablet or capsule take to disintegrate?

The European Pharmacopoeia allows an uncoated tablet up to 15 minutes, and a film-coated tablet or a capsule up to 30 minutes, in its laboratory disintegration test.

Why can't a strip hold a large dose?

A whole orodispersible film weighs up to 500 mg, so strips suit ingredients that work in micrograms or milligrams. Gram doses belong in capsules or powders.

Where are Smart Strips made?

In the USA, in an FDA registered, cGMP certified facility.

Sources

1. Cupone IE, Sansone A, Marra F, Giori AM, Jannini EA. Orodispersible film (ODF) platform based on maltodextrin for therapeutical applications. Pharmaceutics. 2022;14:2011. https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmaceutics14102011
2. Ferlak J, Guzenda W, Osmałek T. Orodispersible Films: Current State of the Art, Limitations, Advances and Future Perspectives. Pharmaceutics. 2023;15(2):361. https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmaceutics15020361
3. Scarpa M, Stegemann S, Hsiao W-K, Pichler H, Gaisford S, Bresciani M, Paudel A. Orodispersible films: towards drug delivery in special populations. Int J Pharm. 2017;523(1):327-335. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpharm.2017.03.018
4. BioDelivery Sciences International. Press release on FDA approval of ONSOLIS (fentanyl buccal soluble film), 16 July 2009, filed with the US SEC. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1103021/000119312509150170/dex991.htm
5. Drugs.com. Zuplenz (ondansetron) oral soluble film, FDA approval history. https://www.drugs.com/history/zuplenz.html
6. Manufacturing Chemist. Ondansetron RapidFilm gains European approval. 24 March 2010. https://www.manufacturingchemist.com/ondansetron-rapidfilm-gains-european-approval-50019
7. Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA). Pullulan. Compendium of Food Additive Specifications, FAO FNP 52 Add 13. 2005. https://www.fao.org/fileadmin/user_upload/jecfa_additives/docs/Monograph1/Additive-365.pdf
8. Commission Directive 2008/84/EC laying down specific purity criteria on food additives other than colours and sweeteners, Annex I, E 1204 Pullulan. https://legislation.gov.uk/eudr/2008/84/annex/I/division/298/adopted
9. EFSA Panel on Food Additives and Flavourings (FAF). Re-evaluation of pullulan (E 1204) as a food additive and new application for its extension of use. EFSA Journal. 2025, article 9267. https://efsa.europa.eu/en/efsajournal/pub/9267
10. Chlebowska-Śmigiel A, Gniewosz M. Effect of pullulan coating on inhibition of chosen microorganisms' growth. Acta Sci Pol Technol Aliment. 2009;8(3):37-46. https://www.food.actapol.net/volume8/issue3/abstract-4.html
11. European Pharmacopoeia. Monograph 0478 Tablets and monograph 0016 Capsules, disintegration test 2.9.1, as reproduced in the British Pharmacopoeia 2012 and 2010. https://www.drugfuture.com/Pharmacopoeia/BP2012/data/6433.html and https://drugfuture.com/Pharmacopoeia/BP2010/data/6267.html
12. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Guidance for Industry: Orally Disintegrating Tablets. December 2008. https://www.fda.gov/media/70877/download
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14. Radicioni M, Castiglioni C, Giori A, Cupone I, Frangione V, Rovati S. Bioequivalence study of a new sildenafil 100 mg orodispersible film compared to the conventional film-coated 100 mg tablet administered to healthy male volunteers. Drug Des Devel Ther. 2017;11:1183-1192. https://doi.org/10.2147/DDDT.S124034
15. Capsugel. Vcaps Capsule Size Information. Technical document, April 2013.