Pancrelipase Suppliers & Bulk Manufacturers

Available Forms: Capsules

Available Strengths: 3,000; 6,000; 12,000; 24,000; 36,000

Reference Brands: Creon (USA/EU), Zenpep (USA), Pancreaze (USA)

Category: Gastrointestinal Drugs

Pancrelipase is a mixture of digestive enzymes (lipase, protease, and amylase) derived from porcine pancreas. It helps break down fats, proteins, and carbohydrates in patients with exocrine pancreatic insufficiency (EPI) due to conditions such as cystic fibrosis, chronic pancreatitis, or pancreatic surgery. The therapy aids digestion and nutrient absorption when the pancreas cannot produce enough enzymes.

Product Description:

Pancrelipase is a standardised mixture of pancreatic enzymes — lipase, protease and amylase — extracted from porcine pancreas. It replaces the enzymes the pancreas can no longer supply in exocrine pancreatic insufficiency caused by cystic fibrosis, chronic pancreatitis, pancreatic surgery or pancreatic cancer. Without it fat is poorly absorbed, leading to steatorrhoea, weight loss and deficiency of fat-soluble vitamins.

Dosing is by lipase units, taken with every meal and snack. Most products are enteric-coated microspheres or minitablets inside capsules, protecting the enzymes from stomach acid until they reach the duodenum. Capsules can be opened and the contents mixed with acidic soft food, but must not be crushed or chewed. Very high doses — above about 10,000 lipase units per kilogram per meal — have been associated with fibrosing colonopathy in children with cystic fibrosis. Hyperuricaemia and oral irritation from chewed beads are also recognised.

Sourcing notes. Because the product is a biological extract, brands are not interchangeable unit-for-unit, and in the US every product has required its own approval since 2010. Porcine origin raises halal and kosher questions in some markets, and viral safety of the source material is a regulatory focus. Strengths are expressed in lipase units, and the specification must state activity for all three enzymes.