The idea was as ingenious as it was effective: adding a synthetic coating to tablets as a way to control the release of active substances at exactly the right time. Once the first enteric-coated polyacrylates under the brand name EUDRAGIT® had been launched in the market as coating agents in 1954, the researchers at Röhm & Haas kept experimenting. A patent for coating agents that dissolved in the stomach was ultimately filed in 1958. The product was called EUDRAGIT® E.

It was the starting point for further successful applications: Today, EUDRAGIT® is considered the gold standard in gastro-resistant formulations worldwide. The pharmaceutical polymer is designed to release active ingredients exactly in the place where they are needed. With location-specific pH values as the key to destination, the respective drug is either released in the stomach, in the small intestine, or in the colon.