Journal of Excipients and Food Chemicals (Jun 2019)
The effect of disintegrants on the physical properties of a cocoa butter based fast melt tablet developed by a fusion moulding method
Abstract
Oral dispersible tablets (ODTs) generally have high porosity and disintegrate using mechanisms such as wicking of water by the disintegrant and the dissolving of water soluble excipients. An alternative to ODT is a fast melting tablet (FMT) that can disintegrate within 3 minutes and which does not have the friability, packaging or cost issues associated with ODTs. The development of fusion molded tablets using cocoa butter as a base combined with a suitable disintegrant has not been previously explored. This study was designed to formulate FMTs using cocoa butter as a base and study the effect of the addition of disintegrants on the resulting FMTs. Microcrystalline cellulose, starch and sodium starch glycolate were incorporated at various amounts and their effect on FMT physical properties was compared. The physical characterization tests performed were hardness, weight variation, thickness, friability and disintegration time. Formulation F7 containing 30% MCC showed the greatest hardness (1.30 ± 0.53 kg), lowest friability (0.16%) and shortest disintegration time (103.00 ± 4.16 seconds). These properties did not change when stored for 9 months at 30 ± 1°C.