Taste is a major issue for a number of classes of pharmaceutical products and often leads to a lack of patient compliance, especially with paediatric medicines. Claire Thompson, Director of Pharmaceutical Development, Oxford Pharmascience, looks at how new technology could open up dosage formats and dosage regimes previously precluded by taste.
It is estimated that there are about 10,000 taste buds on the tongue, roof of the mouth, cheeks and throat, and each bud has around 100 receptor cells. These cells interact with molecules dissolved in the saliva and produce a positive or negative taste sensation. Many drugs are unpalatable and unattractive in their natural state, including those with the following therapeutic indications: cardiac, analgesic, antibacterial, anticoagulant, antiepileptic, antimalarial, diuretic, histamine receptor antagonists and vaccines.
Physiological and physicochemical approaches have been used to prevent drugs from interacting with taste buds, and thus to eliminate or reduce negative sensory response.1
Conventional taste masking methods focus on three main approaches:
- Addition of flavourings/sweeteners
- Coating of either drug particles or the entire drug product formulation
- Complexation of the drug within a carrier
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