Abstract
Recent advances in Novel Drug Delivery Systems (NDDS) aim for designing dosage forms, convenient to be manufactured and administered, free of side effects, offering immediate release and enhanced bioavailability, so as to achieve better patient compliance. Though oral drug delivery systems, preferably, tablets are the most widely accepted dosage forms, for being compact, offering uniform dose and painless delivery. Yet, dysphagia is the most common disadvantage of conventional tablets. This is seen to afflict nearly 35% of the general population and associated with a number of conditions, like Parkinsonism, mental disability, motion sickness, unconsciousness, unavailability of water etc. To overcome such problems, certain innovative drug delivery systems, like ‘Orodispersible tablets’ (ODT) have been developed. These are novel dosage forms which dissolve in saliva within a few seconds, when put on tongue. Such ODTs can be administered anywhere and anytime, without the need of water and are thus quite suitable for children, elderly and mentally disabled patients. The aim of this article is to review the ideal properties, significance, characteristics, choice of drug candidates, challenges informulation, various technologies for preparation of ODTs, Patented technologies on ODTs, Suitable drug candidates for ODTs, Evaluation tests of ODTs and Marketed product of ODTs.
