TASTE-MASKING – Pharmaceutical Taste-Masking Technologies

Taste-masking techniques are applied to mask or overcome the bitter or unpleasant taste of active pharmaceutical ingredients/drugs to achieve patient acceptability and compliance. Oral administration of bitter or unpleasant tasting drugs is often the biggest barrier for patient groups, such as pediatrics and geriatrics.1 A survey of American Association of Pediatricians reports unpleasant taste as the biggest barrier in the treatment of pediatric population.2 Unless the active ingredient is tasteless or does not have any unpleasant taste, taste-masking plays a key role in the success of a final solid oral dosage form. The efficiency of taste-masking is often a key determinant for the success of  specialized dosage forms like orally disintegrating tablets and films, and chewable tablets. The mechanisms of taste masking techniques often rely on two major approaches: the first is to add sweeteners, flavors, and effervescent agents to mask the unpleasant taste, and the second is to avoid the contact of bitter/unpleasant drugs with taste buds. In the past few years, significant progress has been made in the area of taste-masking by applying novel strategies and techniques, such as hot-melt extrusion and microencapsulation. The following presents an overview and current status of the industrial approaches and platforms used for taste-masking in oral dosage forms.