It can't be the capsule; it has to be the beads. The capsule is just a container; the medication is in the beads. There are recommendations -- maybe even among those that come with the pills -- that say if you don't want to use the capsules, then open one and sprinkle the beads on applesauce and eat that. I think vegans find the makeup of the capsules to be a problem because they're made with animal product. For my tapering, I needed to buy gel capsules for some weeks and they're working just fine. Counting beads is incredibly tedious, but it's also been the simplest method for me. A local compounding pharmacy wouldn't redo the capsules for me because they hadn't filled the original prescription, so I've counted -- and counted -- and counted. The beads are pretty much uniform in size. Some of them are really tiny and sometimes two beads are stuck together, but it's easy enough to accommodate them in the counting.

The capsules dissolve almost immediately. They are simply gelatin....they will even begin to dissolve it they get a little too wet. The technology is likely entirely in the beads.