Orally disintegrating dosage forms: discussing market specific formulation strategies

corresponding

Thorsten Cech
Manager European Application Lab
BASF Pharma Solutions & Human Nutrition
Ludwigshafen, Germany

Philipp Hebestreit
Manager Technical Service
BASF Pharma Solutions
Lampertheim, Germany

GLOBAL TREND TOWARDS ORALLY DISINTEGRATING FORMULATIONS

Lifestyle
During the last years, orally disintegrating dosage forms established themselves as lifestyle products. Providing convenience and comfort in application, these products are highly appreciated by consumers and patients. Their obvious advantages are the ease of carrying, dosing and their administration without water, which is dedicatedly interesting for a population extensively travelling (1).
Shortly after the successful introduction of the first pharmaceutical products an excessive trend towards line-extensions could be observed. Various well-established over-the-counter (OTC) dosage forms undergoing lifecycle management, were reformulated and re-introduced to the self-medication market.
Nowadays, a huge number of formulation approaches can be found in pharmacies addressing this lifestyle market. Under the umbrella of orally disintegrating dosage forms (ODX) one can find a vast variety of formulation approaches, employing tablets (ODT), mini-tablets (ODMT), lyophylisates (ODL), granules (ODG) or rarely seen films strips (ODF) as carrier system for the ...