Abstract
The shortage of pharmaceutical formulations appropriate for different age subgroups that compose of the pediatric population, requires health professionals to prepare extemporaneous formulations. The present study deals with the development of a low-cost vehicle to be used in transformation of solid dosage form into liquid form for use on children, the study of the product’s stability and the acceptability by healthy children. We formulated preparations with different suspending agents, and evaluated in terms of manufacturing facility, flavor, compatibility with actives and rheological behavior. The vehicle without actives was investigated by acceptance testing with the hedonic scale, involving 61 healthy children, between the ages of four and twelve years. The vehicle with the mint, cherry and strawberry flavors was widely accepted by children. Has pseudo-plastic behavior, density close to 1.00, sweet flavor, low cost, few components, absence of unsuitable substances to the health of children, physical, chemical and microbiological stability and acceptability. The vehicle was successfully employed for the preparation of oral liquid dosage forms containing furosemide, hydrochlorothiazide and valganciclovir with stability above 3 months.
