Role of Nanotechnology in Taste Masking: Recent Updates.

One of the important parameters in the case of dosage form is taste. Most of the drugs available in oral dosage form have an unpleasant taste which leads to patient incompliance and affects the success ratio of products in the market. Geriatric and paediatric patients suffer more with the bitter taste of medicines. According to the studies reported, it is found that 50% of the population have the problem swallowing tablets, especially the pediatric and geriatric population. Masking the taste of bitter drugs has become necessary in the pharmaceutical field and increasing interest of researchers to develop various methods for masking the bitter taste of drugs. Five major tastes, felt by our tongue are salt, sour, sweet, bitter, and umami. When the drug dissolves with saliva, drug molecules interact with taste receptors present on the tongue and give taste sensations. Although, many solid oral dosage forms like pills, and tablets have an additional advantage of masking and encapsulation of bitter taste drugs; however, they might not be effective for children because they may or may not swallow pills or tablets. There are various other methods that mask the bitter taste of drugs such as the addition of sweeteners and flavouring agents, granulation, coating, inclusion complexes, extrusion method, ion-exchange resins, etc, discussed in the first section of the article. The second part of this article consists of various nanotechnology-based drug delivery systems that were fabricated by researchers to mask the bitter taste of drugs. A brief of recent literature on various nanocarriers that were fabricated or developed for taste masking has been discussed in this part. A better understanding of these methods will help researchers and pharmaceutical industries to develop novel drug delivery systems with improved taste masking properties.

Advancements in Rectal Drug Delivery Systems: Clinical Trials, and Patents Perspective.

The rectal route is an effective route for the local and systemic delivery of active pharmaceutical ingredients. The environment of the rectum is relatively constant with low enzymatic activity and is favorable for drugs having poor oral absorption, extensive first-pass metabolism, gastric irritation, stability issues in the gastric environment, localized activity, and for drugs that cannot be administered by other routes. The present review addresses the rectal physiology, rectal diseases, and pharmaceutical factors influencing rectal delivery of drugs and discusses different rectal drug delivery systems including suppositories, suspensions, microspheres, nanoparticles, liposomes, tablets, and hydrogels. Clinical trials on various rectal drug delivery systems are presented in tabular form. Applications of different novel drug delivery carriers viz. nanoparticles, liposomes, solid lipid nanoparticles, microspheres, transferosomes, nano-niosomes, and nanomicelles have been discussed and demonstrated for their potential use in rectal administration. Various opportunities and challenges for rectal delivery including recent advancements and patented formulations for rectal drug delivery have also been included.