provided among other things is a method of making an elongate dosage form comprising : providing an elongate core with two ends and a waist , the core comprising a bioactive agent and a release agent that swells on contact with water ; coating the core with a polymer coating ; enrobing the ends of the core with two preformed gel capsule parts , leaving the waist coated only with the polymer coating ; shrink fitting the gel capsule parts to the core ; and forming a pattern of holes in the polymer coating of the waist , with the pattern , size and density of the holes selected to allow water ingress to the core and to help burst the polymer coating on swelling of the core due to water ingress .