Optimization of Taste Masked Orodispersible Tablet of Cetirizine Dihydrochloride for Enhanced Palatability

Orodispersible tablet is a patient-friendly alternative for delivering the drug to patients having problems with swallowing and sensitive to the bitterness of the drug. This study focuses on taste masking of cetirizine dihydrochloride by applying coating technique. Taste masked orodispersible tablet (ODT) was formulated using superdisintegrants and apply hydrophilic/hydrophopic polymer/lipid coating. Formulations were designed by 22 factorial central composite design, in which stearic acid and compritol 888 ATO were taken as independent variables. The taste masking was evaluated using the small-volume shake flask method, as an alternative to testing with a human panel. The concentration of stearic acid and compritol 888 ATO in the optimized formulation obtained from the Minitab software response optimization was nearly as same as that of formulation F3. Thus, formulation F3 was considered to be formulation of choice. The weight variation, disintegration time, friability, and dissolution were found to be satisfactory. The coating of API with compritol 888 ATO exhibited effective taste-masking properties while maintaining rapid disintegration and acceptable mechanical strength while masking the bitterness of the drug molecule. Taste masking of cetirizine dihydrochloride was successfully achieved using a lipid-based coating approach, with Compritol® 888 ATO and stearic acid as coating materials. Thus, the study successfully developed a taste-masked orodispersible tablet of cetirizine dihydrochloride using a lipid-based coating technique.