ABSTRACT
The problem of providing patients with drug dosage forms that are palatable has been around for a long time. The taste-masked microencapsulation formulation showed pharmacokinetic characteristics of Cmax and Tmax to be slightly lower than those of the Advil tablet, thus indicating a slower rate of absorption. A large number of bitter drugs have been microencapsulated in experimental as well as commercial quantities. Microcapsules of drug moieties can be prepared by a number of techniques including air suspension, coacervation and phase separation, solvent evaporation, spray drying and spray congealing techniques. The properties of microcapsules are generally defined by the nature of the drug, its bitterness, the polymer coating, microcapsule size, and the type of dosage form into which it is to be formulated. The normal method to evaluate the taste properties of dosage formulation is by subjective testing. A panel of subjects is given a raw drug formulation and a formulation containing the taste-masked drug.
