Fast Melt Tablets: A Convenient Form of Oral Medication

Fast melt tablets, also known as orally disintegrating tablets, are tablets that dissolve rapidly in the mouth without the need for chewing or drinking water. Unlike regular oral tablets, fast melt tablets disintegrate within seconds when placed on the tongue. This allows for easy and convenient administration of medications to people who have difficulty swallowing regular tablets.

Composition and Manufacturing Process

Fast melt tablets are manufactured using special formulation and production techniques to allow for quick disintegration. Commonly used excipients in their formulation include solubilizers, diluents, binders, flavors and sweeteners. They are usually constructed from a mixture of sugars, cellulose and polymers that come in powdered form.

Fast melt tablets is compressed into tablets using special compression techniques like freeze drying or spray drying that produces porous matrices. This allows tablets to break up instantly upon getting in contact with saliva in the mouth. Proper control over tablet hardness and porosity is crucial during manufacturing to achieve optimum fast disintegration.

Advantages over Regular Tablets
There are several advantages of fast melt tablets over conventional tablets:

Convenient Administration: Their melt-in-mouth properties allow easy intake without water or chewing. This makes them convenient for people who have difficulty swallowing like elderly, pediatric and psychiatric patients.

Rapid Onset of Action: Fast melt tablets start disintegrating instantly in the mouth and dissolve within seconds to release the drug in soluble form for gastrointestinal absorption. This leads to a faster onset of therapeutic action compared to regular tablets.

Accuracy in Dosing: With fast melt tablets, patients can be sure of receiving the full intended dose as tablets dissolve rapidly rather than risking incomplete dissolution in the stomach as in case of regular tablets in some patients.

Ideal for Allergy Season: Fast melt formulations are very useful during allergy season when water intake may cause throat irritation. The melt-in-mouth property avoids this issue.

Patient Compliance: Easy administration of fast melt tablets improves patient compliance especially in pediatric, geriatric patients who have trouble swallowing tablets. This leads to better treatment management and therapeutic outcomes.

Applications in Various Therapeutic Areas

Given these advantages, fast melt tablets have applications in many therapeutic areas for conditions where rapid drug delivery is desired or swallowing difficulties are present:

Neurology: Fast melt antiepileptics, anxiolytics and antidepressants are highly useful for epileptic patients or during panic attacks where quick onset of action is needed.

Cardiology: They are suitable for emergency conditions like angina requiring rapid pain relief as well as for congestive cardiac failure patients.

Pediatrics: Fast melt pediatric formulations of common medications like paracetamol, ibuprofen, antihistaminics are popular owing to ease of administration in children.

Allergy and Cold: Formulations for cough, cold, allergy and flu provide instant relief from symptoms without water requirement.

Motion Sickness: Fast melt prokinectic formulations help control vomiting associated with motion sickness very quickly.

Limitations of Fast Melt Tablets

While fast melt tablets offer several advantages over conventional tablets, they also have some limitations:

Hygroscopic Nature: Being highly soluble, they have a tendency to absorb moisture which can affect stability and integrity if not packaged properly in tightly closed moisture protecting containers.

Lack of Sharp Delineation: Unlike regular tablets which have a clear defined shape, fast melt tablets have blurred outlines post dissolution which some patients may not prefer.

High Cost: Current manufacturing techniques involve elaborate processing which makes fast melt tablets more expensive than conventional tablets. Low product value ratios make their large scale manufacture less profitable.

Taste Masking Issues: Strong unpleasant taste of some drugs is difficult to effectively mask using sweeteners and flavors in fast melt tablet formulation, limiting choice of drugs.

Lack of Long Term Stability Data: As these are relatively new dosage forms, long term stability data beyond 12-24 months period is still lacking for many products. Proper validation of shelf life as per zon climatic conditions is still pending.

Regulatory Acceptance: While regulatory bodies do accept fast melt tablets as a proven technology, product approvals are taking a longer time as extensive clinical studies are required to demonstrate in vivo fast disintegration as claimed.

Safety Issues on Abuse Liability: There are some concerns about abuse potential or misuse of active ingredients from fast melt tablets by crushed and injected dosage forms. This requires additional clinical safety studies during product development.

fast melt tablets provide clinicians an effective solution for medication administration in patients who have difficulty swallowing regular oral dosage forms. With continued technological advances to address stability, cost and regulatory barriers, their use is likely to increase further as a preferred oral solid dosage form worldwide. Careful product selection based on indication and individual patient's condition is recommended for optimum benefits.

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Priya Pandey is a dynamic and passionate editor with over three years of expertise in content editing and proofreading. Holding a bachelor's degree in biotechnology, Priya has a knack for making the content engaging. Her diverse portfolio includes editing documents across different industries, including food and beverages, information and technology, healthcare, chemical and materials, etc. Priya's meticulous attention to detail and commitment to excellence make her an invaluable asset in the world of content creation and refinement.

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