Fast Dissolving Tablets: A New Venture in Drug Delivery

  Despite disadvantages, oral drug delivery remains the preferred route of drug delivery. Oral administration is the most popular route due to ease of ingestion, pain avoidance, versatility (to accommodate various types of drug candidates), and most importantly, patient compliance. FDTs are intended and designed to disintegrate and dissolve in saliva and then easily swallowed without need of water, which is a major benefit over conventional dosage form. Fast dissolving tablets can be prepared by various conventional methods like direct compression, wet granulation, moulding, spray drying, freeze drying, and sublimation. Some of the patented technologies with improved performance, patient compliance, and enhanced quality have emerged in the recent past. In 1986, the first lyophilized fast-dissolving technology Zydis was introduced by Cardinal formerly R. P. Scherer and after that there was a continuous growth in names, technologies & patented technology by different companies such as Wowtab technology, oraquick technology etc. Various excipients are employed in the formulation for example superdisintegrants such as crospovidone (CP), sodium starch glycolate (SSG), croscarmellose sodium and PVP as binder and many more. The review also covers the evaluation parameters including pre-compression and post compression parameters and packaging of FDTs. There are multiple fast-dissolving OTC and Rx products on the market worldwide, most of which have been launched in the past 3 to 4 years. There have also been significant increases in the number of new chemical entities under development using a fast-dissolving drug delivery technology. Thus, in near future, it is expected that this delivery system will get much importance as that of conventional delivery systems. This article provides a comprehensive review of various technologies. Key Words: Oral delivery, fast dissolving tablet, drug delivery, Novel dosage forms.