PHARMACEUTICAL TASTE MASKING TECHNOLOGIES OF BITTER DRUGS: A CONCISE REVIEW

Taste refers to a perception arising from the stimulation of taste buds present on the surface of the tongue. Humans can distinguish among five components of taste: sourness, saltiness, sweetness, bitterness, and umami (savory). Taste is an important parameter in case of drugs administering orally and is a critical factor to be considered while formulating orodispersible, melt in mouth, buccal tablet and other formulations which comes in contact with taste buds. Bitter and unpalatable taste is a major problem of certain drugs in formulations. Masking the bitter taste of drugs is a potential tool for the improvement of patient compliance which in turn decides the commercial success of the product. According to the year 2003 survey of pediatricians by the American Association of Pediatrics, unpleasant taste was the biggest barrier for completing treatment in pediatrics. The field of taste masking of active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) has been continuously evolving with varied technologies and new excipients. Two approaches are commonly utilized to overcome the bad taste of the drug. The first includes reduction of drug solubility in the saliva and second approach is to alter the ability of the drug to interact with taste receptor. Various methods are available to mask the undesirable taste of the drugs. Some of them are coating of drug particles, by formation of inclusion complexes, molecular complexes of drugs with other chemicals, solid dispersions, melting method, micro encapsulation, prodrugs, mass extrusion methods and ion exchange resins. KEY WORDS: Taste, Orally, Bitter, Masking