ABSTRACT:
Taste masking of bitter drugs has been challenge to scientists. Several oral pharmaceuticals and bulking agents have unpleasant bitter taste. In order to ensure patient compliance bitterness masking becomes essential. The desire of improving the palatability has prompted the development of numerous formulations with improved performance and acceptability. Several approaches namely sensory, barrier, chemical and complication have been tried to mask the unpleasant taste of formulation. Palatability is recognized as being a critical factor in patient compliance, particularly for children in whom the acceptability of medicament and hence its ease of administration can be greatly affected by taste. In the present review approaches used for the taste masking of the pharmaceuticals are discussed in detail. Taste is an important parameter-governing acceptance of products for administration through mouth. Several of the oral pharmaceuticals, numerous food and beverage products and bulking agents have unpleasant bitter tasting components. Administration of bitter drugs orally with acceptable level of palatability is a key issue for health care providers, especially for pediatric patients. Masking of the unpleasant taste of a drug improves the compliance of patients and thereby the commercial success of the product. Undesirable taste of these drugs have been eliminated or minimized by various known processes, but no universally applicable technology for bitterness reduction has ever been recognized.