Vol. 1, Issue 2 (2012)

Author(s):
K.P. Sampath kumar*, Debjit Bhowmik, Sweta Srivastava, Shravan Paswan and A.S.Dutta

Abstract:
Children are frequently failed to take medications properly because of unpleasant taste of medicament. Non‐compliance can lead to worsening of  diseased  condition.  Numbers  of  taste masking  technologies  have   been  used  to  address   the  problem  of patient compliance. Use of sweeteners, amino acids and flavoring agents alone are often   inadequate in   masking   the   taste   of   highly bitter  drugs.   Coating  is  more  efficient  technology   for aggressively  bitter  drugs  even  though  coating  imperfections, if present, reduce the efficiency of the technique In Ion exchange resin (IER) method weak cation exchange or weak anion exchange resins are used for taste masking, depending on the nature of drug. The nature of the drug resin complex formed is such  that  the  average  pH  of  6.7  and  contain  concentration  of  about 40meq/L  in  the  saliva are not able to break the drug resin complex but it is weak enough to break down  by hydrochloric acid present in the  stomach. Thus  the   drug  resin   complex  is  absolutely  tasteless with  no  after  taste,  and  at  the  same  time,   its   bioavailability  is  not affected.  Children under the age of 8 are typically prescribed liquid medications because  of smaller structure of a  child's esophagus.