FORMULATION STRATEGIES FOR TASTE-MASKING OF CHEWABLE TABLETS

Article history Chewable tablets which are required to be broken and chewed in between the teeth before ingestion. These tablets are given to the children who have difficulty in swallowing and to the adults who dislike swallowing. These tablets are intended to disintegrate smoothly in the mouth at a moderate rate either with or without actual chewing, characteristically chewable tablets have a smooth texture upon disintegration, are pleasant tasting and leave no bitter or unpleasant taste. Many active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) inherently possess a bitter taste. Nearly 20% of American adults surveyed complained of bad aftertastes or struggling to swallow when trying to take medication. If a medication is not palatable, the patient may opt to discontinue it. Failure to take medication as prescribed leads to increased morbidity, mortality, and potentially avoidable healthcare costs exceeding US$100 billion annually in the US alone. While objectionable taste may be one of several reasons for poor adherence, every measure that minimises these reasons helps. With a recognised impact on patient healthcare outcomes and costs, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has released guidelines promoting the development of medicines for paediatric use. The US FDA is promoting similar initiatives. Taste-masking is incredibly important for paediatric populations as well as Geriatric patients. Firstly, children are 3-4 times as sensitive to tastes as adults, with increasing tolerance to bitter tastes with age. Secondly, children, particularly infants, are unable to rationalise ingestion of an unpalatable medicine. The most popular oral dosage forms include liquids, powders, granules, orally disintegrating tablets (ODT), and chewable tablets. Each one has pros and cons, depending on the target age group. Liquids, powders, and granules provide the greatest flexibility in dosing, provided there is a simple way to meter the powders. For solid oral dosage forms like orally disintegrating tablets and chewable tablets, break-lines can be included in the tablet design to adjust dosing. As a result, chewable tablets has seen an increased interest from the pharmaceutical industry in taste- masking technologies.