A Brief Discussion on Fast Dissolving Tablet- A Recent Technology

Oral delivery is at this time the gold standard in the drug manufacturing where it is considered as the safest, most convenient and greatest economical method of drug delivery. One such problem can be solved in the novel drug delivery system by formulating “mouth dissolving tablets” (MDTs) which disintegrates or dissolves rapidly without water within few seconds in the mouth due to the action of superdisintegrant or maximizing pore structure in the formulation. Some tablets are designed to dissolve in saliva remarkably fast, within a few seconds, and are true fast-dissolving tablets. Others contain agents to enhance the rate of tablet disintegration in the oral cavity, and are more appropriately termed fast-disintegrating tablets, as they may take up to a minute to completely disintegrate. Mouth dissolving tablets are solid dosage forms containing drugs that disintegrate in the oral cavity within less than one minute leaving an easy-to-swallow residue. This is seen to affect about 35% of the general population and associated with a number of circumstances like Parkinsonism, mental disability, motion sickness, unconsciousness, unavailability of the water etc. Other groups that may experience problems using conventional oral dosage forms include the mentally ill, the developmentally disabled, and patients who are uncooperative, on reduced liquid-intake plans, or are nauseated. To overcome such difficulties, mouth dissolving tablets have been developed. The aim of this review article is to give an overview on desired characteristics, advantages, preparation techniques and patented technologies of FDTs formulation.