Fast mouth dissolving disintegrating tablet and patient counseling points for FDDTs - A Review.

Recent developments in technology have presented viable dosage alternatives for patients who may have difficulty swallowing tablets or liquids. Traditional tablets and capsules administered with an 8-oz. glass of water may be inconvenient or impractical for some patients. For example, a very elderly patient may not be able to swallow a daily dose of antidepressant. An eight-year-old with allergies could use a more convenient dosage form than antihistamine syrup. A schizophrenic patient in the institutional setting can hide a conventional tablet under his or her tongue to avoid their daily dose of an atypical antipsychotic. A middle-aged woman undergoing radiation therapy for breast cancer may be too nauseous to swallow her H2-blocker. The convenience of administration and improved patient compliance are important in the design of oral drug delivery system which remains the preferred route of drug delivery inspite of various disadvantages. One such problem can be solved in the novel drug delivery system by formulating “mouth dissolving tablets” (MDTs) which disintegrates or dissolves rapidly without water within few seconds in the mouth due to the action of super-disintegrant or maximizing pore structure in the formulation. The review describes the various formulation aspects, technologies developed for MDTs, marketed formulation and drugs used in this research area.

Formulation and evaluation of nanoparticles containing artemisinin HCL.

The present study deals with the formulation and evaluation of Artemisinin HCl nanoparticles. Artemisinin is a sesquiterpene lactone chemical extract from Artemisia annua (sweet wormwood), is poorly soluble in water and a fast-acting blood schizonticide effective in treating the acute attack of malaria (including chloroquine – resistant and celebral malaria). Artemisinin are effective against multi-resistant strains of P. falciparum. The purpose of the present work is to minimize the dosing frequency, taste masking and toxicity and to improve the therapeutic efficacy by formulating Artemisinin HCl nanoparticles. Artemisinin HCl nanoparticles were formulated by solvent evaporation method using polymer poly(ε-caprolactone) with five different formulations. Nanoparticles were characterized by determining its particle size, polydispersity index, drug entrapment efficiency, particle morphological character and drug release. The particle size ranged between 100nm to 240nm. Drug entrapment efficacy was > 99%. The in-vitro release of nanoparticles were carried out which exhibited a sustained release of Artemisinin HCl from nanoparticles up to 24hrs. The results showed that nanoparticles can be a promising drug delivery system for sustained release of Artemisinin HCl.