Recent developments in orally disintegrating mini tablets

Solid oral dosage forms are most suitable dosage forms; preferably tablets are widely accepted by people of different age groups. Mini tablets are tablets with a diameter equal to or smaller than 2–3 mm. Mini tablets are multiple unit dosage forms and are advantageous than pellets or any other oral dosage forms as they are easy to manufacture and stability problems are less. Many types of mini tablets are there like bio adhesive mini tablets, pH responsive mini tablets, gastro retentive mini tablets, paediatric mini tablets, oral disintegrating mini tablets. Current ODT developments meet multiple pharmaceutical and patient needs, including better life-cycle management to easy treatment for paediatric, geriatric and psychiatric dysphagic patients. Orally disintegrating dosage forms are X suitable for patients, especially who find it inconvenient to swallow traditional tablets and capsules with an 8-oz glass of water for one reason or another. These essentially reduce the variation between subjects. Mini tablets which disintegrate orally can be evaluated by testing for dissolution, disintegrating testing and hardness. The need for non-invasive delivery systems continues due to the poor acceptance and enforcement by patients of current delivery schemes, limited market space for drug companies and product usage, coupled with high disease management costs. The review emphasizes on advantages of mini tablets, types, methods of manufacturing and modes of administration and evaluation of mini tablets.

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A review of in vitro and in vivo methods and their correlations to assess mouthfeel of solid oral dosage forms

Drug Discovery Today ◽

10.1016/j.drudis.2020.12.015 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Abdullah Asiri ◽

Justyna Hofmanová ◽

Hannah Batchelor

Keyword(s):

Dosage Forms ◽

Oral Dosage ◽

Solid Oral Dosage Forms ◽

Oral Dosage Forms

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Multi-Analytical Framework to Assess the In Vitro Swallowability of Solid Oral Dosage Forms Targeting Patient Acceptability and Adherence

Pharmaceutics ◽

10.3390/pharmaceutics13030411 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (3) ◽

pp. 411

Author(s):

Abdul Latif Ershad ◽

Ali Rajabi-Siahboomi ◽

Shahrzad Missaghi ◽

Daniel Kirby ◽

Afzal Rahman Mohammed

Keyword(s):

Hydroxypropyl Methylcellulose ◽

Analytical Framework ◽

Dosage Forms ◽

Oral Dosage ◽

Surface Erosion ◽

World Population ◽

Swallowing Problems ◽

Solid Oral Dosage Forms ◽

Oral Dosage Forms

A lack of effective intervention in addressing patient non-adherence and the acceptability of solid oral dosage forms combined with the clinical consequences of swallowing problems in an ageing world population highlight the need for developing methods to study the swallowability of tablets. Due to the absence of suitable techniques, this study developed various in vitro analytical tools to assess physical properties governing the swallowing process of tablets by mimicking static and dynamic stages of time-independent oral transitioning events. Non-anatomical models with oral mucosa-mimicking surfaces were developed to assess the swallowability of tablets; an SLA 3D printed in vitro oral apparatus derived the coefficient of sliding friction and a friction sledge for a modified tensometer measured the shear adhesion profile. Film coat hydration and in vitro wettability was evaluated using a high-speed recording camera that provided quantitative measurements of micro-thickness changes, simulating static in vivo tablet–mucosa oral processing stages with artificial saliva. In order to ascertain the discriminatory power and validate the multianalytical framework, a range of commonly available tablet coating solutions and new compositions developed in our lab were comparatively evaluated according to a quantitative swallowability index that describes the mathematical relationship between the critical physical forces governing swallowability. This study showed that the absence of a film coat significantly impeded the ease of tablet gliding properties and formed chalky residues caused by immediate tablet surface erosion. Novel gelatin- and λ-carrageenan-based film coats exhibited an enhanced lubricity, lesser resistance to tangential motion, and reduced stickiness than polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)–PEG graft copolymer, hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC), and PVA-coated tablets; however, Opadry® EZ possessed the lowest friction–adhesion profile at 1.53 a.u., with the lowest work of adhesion profile at 1.28 J/mm2. For the first time, the in vitro analytical framework in this study provides a fast, cost-effective, and repeatable swallowability ranking method to screen the in vitro swallowability of solid oral medicines in an effort to aid formulators and the pharmaceutical industry to develop easy-to-swallow formulations.

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