Taste masking of drugs: an extended approach

Taste is an important factor in the development of dosage form. It also gives a unique identity to a product .Taste is mainly a function of taste buds in the mouth.Taste is an important parameter in case of drugs administering orally and is a critical factor. Humans can distinguish among four components of taste: sourness, saltiness, sweetness, bitterness.Bitter and unpalatable taste is a major problem of certain drugs in formulations. Masking the bitter taste of drugs is a potential tool for the improvement of patient compliance which in turn decides the commercial success of the product. Taste masking is a viable and practical strategy to improve the patient compliance .These techniques not only mask the taste of drug, but also may enhance the bioavailability of dosage form.
Unpleasant taste was the biggest barrier for completing treatment in paediatrics. Two approaches are commonly utilized to overcome the bad taste of the drug.The recent techniques of taste masking are inclusion complexation, use ofion exchange resin, mass extrusion, and solid dispersions, coatinggranulation, spray drying, microencapsulation, liposomes, emulsions and gel formation effervescence. Evaluation of taste concealed formulation is done by panel testing, measurement of frog taste nerve response, multichannel taste sensor and spectrophotometricmethod.