In vitro dissolution model can predict the in vivo taste masking performance of coated multiparticulates

The majority of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) are bitter. Therefore, compliance can be a problem where adequate taste masking has not been achieved; this is most problematic in paediatrics. Taste masking is thus a key stage during pharmaceutical development with an array of strategies available to the formulation scientist. Solid oral dosage forms can be taste-masked quite simply by polymer coating, which prevents drug release in the mouth, without unwantedly impairing drug release further down the gastrointestinal tract. At the early stages of pharmaceutical development, an in vitro method for assessment of taste masking is necessary given the lack of toxicological data preventing the use of human taste panels. Currently there is no such tool allowing prediction of taste masking efficiency. In this study, drug dissolution in the context of aversive taste thresholds was proposed as a means to bridge this knowledge gap. Thus, a biorelevant buccal dissolution test was developed in which previousl...