[Advances of sustained/controlled release pellets in traditional Chinese medicine].

Pellets are multiple-unit drug delivery system, which have good fluidity, release stability and uniformity. With preparation techniques and excipient materials gradually established, pellets play an important part in the development of sustained/controlled release drug delivery system. The recent advances in pellets including the release mechanism, preparation methods, excipients and the characteristics in vivo for the sustained/controlled release pellets in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) were reviewed in order to provide the strategies and rational methods for further investigations and applications.