Let's just ignore the difficulty in judging the pH of an alcohol solution, especially at a near neutral pH like 5, and suppose that one of the polymers in the pill mix, eudragit, has a solubility minimum at pH 5. There are still al the other polymer additives, and they are chosen so that they will make no end of problems. Things like polyethylene glycol(PEG), that yet inidentified filter plugging material, and on and on. All the new additives are polymers. By breaking them first, one has a much clearer field...one the people who thought up the additives hadn't covered. You may not end up with a pristine product just by alky extraction and KOH boil, but it at least gets you to a product that works. The product then can also be freed of residual crap by recrystallization. pH tweeking of the extracts has been tried, but other additves get through. It's best to clear the field, then work.