Beneo to talk about better-tasting medicines at CPhI

Many active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) taste bitter and consequently many patients are reluctant to take these medicines Beneo intends to discuss this issue at CPhI on 13-15 October in Madrid

Beneo says early stages of medicine formulation development should consider the taste of the API, the selection of the appropriate dosage form and the route of administration.

Various approaches have been taken to improve the palatability of drug products, including the creation of a barrier between the taste buds and the API or modifying the API to influence its solution kinetics.

According to Beneo, carefully choosing a sweetener as a bulk excipient can improve the palatability of the final product.

Traditionally sucrose has been used for this purpose, however polyols such as Mannitol, Maltitol and particularly Isomalt are increasingly applied.

A recent study in the international journal of pharmacy used an electronic tongue to measure the comparative bitterness reduction of a quinine  hydrochloride solution.

It showed that in comparison to Maltitol, Mannitol and Sucrose, the addition of Isomalt in concentrations as low as 3 to 6% achieved a significantly higher bitterness reduction.

Further studies with other APIs are planned to assess the masking effect of isomalt and give guidance to formulators about how to improve the palatability of final dosage forms.