Development and evaluation of orally disintegrating tablets comprising taste-masked mirtazapine granules

Taste-masking methods in multiparticulate dosage forms with a focus on poorly soluble drugs

In the past, the administration of medicines for children mainly involved changes to adult dosage forms, such as crushing tablets or opening capsules. However, these methods often led to inconsistent dosing, resulting in under- or overdosing. To address this problem and promote adherence, numerous initiatives, and regulatory frameworks have been developed to develop more child-friendly dosage forms. In recent years, multiparticulate dosage forms such as mini-tablets, pellets, and granules have gained popularity. However, a major challenge that persists is effectively masking the bitter taste of drugs in such formulations. This review therefore provides a brief overview of the current state of the art in taste masking techniques, with a particular focus on taste masking by film coating. Methods for evaluating the effectiveness of taste masking are also discussed and commented on. Another important issue that arises frequently in this area is achieving sufficient dissolution of poorly water-soluble drugs. Since the simultaneous combination of sufficient dissolution and taste masking is particularly challenging, the second objective of this review is to provide a critical summary of studies dealing with multiparticulate formulations that are tackling both of these issues.

Citric Acid: Properties, Microbial Production, and Applications in Industries

Citric acid finds broad applications in various industrial sectors, such as the pharmaceutical, food, chemical, and cosmetic industries. The bioproduction of citric acid uses various microorganisms, but the most commonly employed ones are filamentous fungi such as Aspergillus niger and yeast Yarrowia lipolytica. This article presents a literature review on the properties of citric acid, the microorganisms and substrates used, different fermentation techniques, its industrial utilization, and the global citric acid market. This review emphasizes that there is still much to explore, both in terms of production process techniques and emerging new applications of citric acid.

An Overview of Taste-Masking Technologies: Approaches, Application, and Assessment Methods

It is well-known that plenty of active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) inherently possess an unpleasant taste, which influences the acceptance of patients, especially children. Therefore, manufacturing taste-masked dosage forms has attracted a lot of attention. This review describes in detail the taste-masking technologies based on the difference in the taste transmission mechanism which is currently available. In particular, the review highlights the application of various methods, with a special focus on how to screen the appropriate masking technology according to the properties of API. Subsequently, we overviewed how to assess taste-masking efficacy, guiding researchers to rationally design taste-masking formulations.

Role of Nanotechnology in Taste Masking: Recent Updates

One of the important parameters in the case of dosage form is taste. Most of the drugs available in oral dosage form have an unpleasant taste which leads to patient incompliance and affects the success ratio of products in the market. Geriatric and paediatric patients suffer more with the bitter taste of medicines. According to the studies reported, it is found that 50% of the population have the problem swallowing tablets, especially the pediatric and geriatric population. Masking the taste of bitter drugs has become necessary in the pharmaceutical field and increasing interest of researchers to develop various methods for masking the bitter taste of drugs. Five major tastes, felt by our tongue are salt, sour, sweet, bitter, and umami. When the drug dissolves with saliva, drug molecules interact with taste receptors present on the tongue and give taste sensations. Although, many solid oral dosage forms like pills, and tablets have an additional advantage of masking and encapsulation of bitter taste drugs; however, they might not be effective for children because they may or may not swallow pills or tablets. There are various other methods that mask the bitter taste of drugs such as the addition of sweeteners and flavouring agents, granulation, coating, inclusion complexes, extrusion method, ion-exchange resins, etc, discussed in the first section of the article. The second part of this article consists of various nanotechnology-based drug delivery systems that were fabricated by researchers to mask the bitter taste of drugs. A brief of recent literature on various nanocarriers that were fabricated or developed for taste masking has been discussed in this part. A better understanding of these methods will help researchers and pharmaceutical industries to develop novel drug delivery systems with improved taste masking properties.

Pharmacological Effects and Clinical Prospects of Cepharanthine

Cepharanthine is an active ingredient separated and extracted from Stephania cepharantha Hayata, a Menispermaceae plant. As a bisbenzylisoquinoline alkaloid, cepharanthine has various pharmacological properties, including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory, antitumoral, and antiviral effects. Following the emergence of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), cepharanthine has been found to have excellent anti-COVID-19 activity. In this review, the important physicochemical properties and pharmacological effects of cepharanthine, particularly the antiviral effect, are systematically described. Additionally, the molecular mechanisms and novel dosage formulations for the efficient, safe, and convenient delivery of cepharanthine are summarized.

Strategies for Taste Masking of Orodispersible Dosage Forms: Time, Concentration, and Perception

Orodispersible dosage forms, characterized as quick dissolving and swallowing without water, have recently gained great attention from the pharmaceutical industry, as these forms can satisfy the needs of children, the elderly, and patients suffering from mental illnesses. However, poor taste by thorough exposure of the drugs' dissolution in the oral cavity hinders the effectiveness of the orodispersible dosage forms. To bridge this gap, we put forward three taste-masking strategies with respect to the intensity of time, concentration, and perception. We further investigated the raw material processing, the composition of auxiliary material, formulation techniques, and process control in each strategy and drew conclusions about their effects on taste masking.

Formulation Development of Mirtazapine Liquisolid Compacts: Optimization Using Central Composite Design

Mirtazapine is a tetracyclic anti-depressant with poor water solubility. The aim of this study was to improve the dissolution rate of mirtazapine by delivering the drug as a liquisolid compact. Central composite design (CCD) was employed for the preparation of mirtazapine liquisolid compacts. In this, the impacts of two independent factors, i.e., excipient ratio (carrier:coating) and different drug concentration on the response of liquisolid system were optimized. Liquisolid compacts were prepared using propylene glycol as a solvent, microcrystalline cellulose as a carrier, and silicon dioxide (Aerosil) as the coating material. The crystallinity of the formulated drug and the interactions between the excipients were examined using X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), respectively. The dissolution study for the liquisolid compact was carried out as per FDA guidelines. The results showed loss of crystallinity of the mirtazapine in the formulation and was completely solubilized in non-volatile solvent and equally dispersed throughout the powder system. Moreover, drug dissolution was found to be higher in liquisolid compacts than the direct compressed conventional tablets (of mirtazapine). The liquisolid technique appears to be a promising approach for improving the dissolution of poorly soluble drugs like mirtazapine.

Citric Acid: A Multifunctional Pharmaceutical Excipient

Citric acid, a tricarboxylic acid, has found wide application in the chemical and pharmaceutical industry due to its biocompatibility, versatility, and green, environmentally friendly chemistry. This review emphasizes the pharmaceutical uses of citric acid as a strategic ingredient in drug formulation while focusing on the impact of its physicochemical properties. The functionality of citric acid is due to its three carboxylic groups and one hydroxyl group. These allow it to be used in many ways, including its ability to be used as a crosslinker to form biodegradable polymers and as a co-former in co-amorphous and co-crystal applications. This paper also analyzes the effect of citric acid in physiological processes and how this effect can be used to enhance the attributes of pharmaceutical preparations, as well as providing a critical discussion on the issues that may arise out of the presence of citric acid in formulations.

Orodispersible tablets for pediatric drug delivery: current challenges and recent advances

INTRODUCTION

Child appropriate dosage forms are indispensable in modern medicine and are a prerequisite for successful pediatric drug therapy. For years, experts have called for a paradigm shift, from liquid dosage forms to novel oral solid dosage forms. This review aims to shed light on recent developments in Orodispersible tablets (ODTs) and mini-tablets (ODMTs).

AREAS COVERED

This review focuses on the presentation and critical discussion of current challenges as well as recent advances in ODTs for pediatric drug delivery. Highlighted aspects are the evidence for acceptability by children, e.g. in comparison to other dosage forms, and limitations given by tablet size at different ages, as well as advances in special ODT formulations (taste masking, modified release, enabling formulations).

EXPERT OPINION

It is the authors' belief that OD(M)Ts have significant potential as dosage forms in pediatric therapy that has not yet been fully exploited. The reasons for this are, first, that the number of direct acceptance studies is extremely low and the resulting knowledge is therefore rather anecdotal. Despite the high relevance, there seems to be reluctance both in the therapeutic use and conduction of respective studies in children. However, if one combines the knowledge from the few existing studies, surveys, and from approved products, it becomes apparent that so far there is no evidence on limitations of the use of ODTs in pediatric patients.

The use of electronic tongue and sensory panel on taste evaluation of pediatric medicines: a systematic review

The palatability of medications is an essential factor for children's adherence to drug treatment. Several methods for drug taste assessment have been developed. The aim of this review is to explore the literature reports of the main methods for the evaluation of medicines taste, named electronic tongue (e-tongue, in vitro) and human sensory panel. A systematic search was performed up to March 2020 and a total of 88 articles were selected. The e-tongue (57.5%) has been more frequently described than the sensory panel (10.3%), while some articles (32.2%) used both techniques. 74.7% of the articles mentioned 'pediatric', 'paediatric' or 'children' in the text, but only 19.5% developed formulations targeting pediatric audience and sensory testing in children is rarely seen. The e-tongue has predominance of use in the taste evaluation of pediatric medicines probably since it is fast, easy to perform and risk free, besides presenting less imprecise data and no fatigue. The human panel is more realistic, despite its intrinsic variability. In this sense, it is proposed the use of e-tongue as a fast way to select the most promising sample(s) and, after that, the sensory panel should be applied in order to confirm the taste masking.

Development and optimization of levodopa and benzylhydrazine orally disintegrating tablets by direct compression and response surface methodology

The number of Parkinson's disease (PD) patients with the advanced phase and motor fluctuations is increasing. The objective of this study is developing levodopa/benzylhydrazine orally disintegrating tablets (L/B ODTs), which would provide greater convenience and ease of use than conventional tablets for these patients. In the present study, the L/B ODTs were developed successfully with an optimized formulation using response surface methodology (RSM). The direct compression technology was employed for the preparation of L/B ODTs. Considerably shorter disintegration time and faster dissolution profile were obtained under the optimum formulation with microcrystalline cellulose 25.7%, cross-polyvinylpyrrolidone 6.22% and Sodium carboxymethyl starch 5.36%. The content uniformity (%) of levodopa and benzylhydrazine was 50 ± 1.4% and 14.25 ± 0.6%, respectively. Thickness, friability, hardness and wetting time were 2.8 ± 0.05 mm, 0.46 ± 0.21%, 5.42 ± 1.1 kp and 31.2 ± 2.1 s, respectively, and all of data well comply with the General Principles of the Chinese Pharmacopeia. Mannitol of 22% in formulation could bring a pleasant taste: sweet, cool and refreshing. Almost all the volunteers felt that the ODTs had good taste, no roughness, and no gritty feeling, indicating that the ODTs prepared had good palatability, so patients will have good compliance when taking medicine.

Assessment of taste masking of captopril by ion-exchange resins using electronic gustatory system

The objective of the study was to mask the unpleasant taste of captopril (CPT). Taste masking was achieved by complexation of CPT with a basic ion exchange resin, Dowex^® 66, using the batch method. Dowex^® 66 was used for the adsorption of CPT, and physical and chemical parameters of the CPT resinates complex were evaluated. A central composite design was used to generate the experiments for the manufacture of resinates using different process and formulation variables. In vitro dissolution studies were performed for 2 h in 0.01N HCl (pH 1.6) using USP Apparatus I. The compatibility of CPT and the resin was evaluated by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD). The resinates were evaluated for micromeritic properties and further characterised using FTIR, DSC, and PXRD. Response surface methodology was used to determine the significance of input variables on the CPT content and release. The CPT resin ratio was found to have a significant impact on content of the resinates and on CPT release. The formulations were also studied for taste masking ability by means of an electronic gustatory system - electronic tongue.