Development and evaluation of taste-masked dry suspension of cefuroxime axetil for enhancement of oral bioavailability

Cefuroxime axetil(CA)is an ester prodrug of cefuroxime with an unpleasant taste when administrated orally.This work was to mask the bitter taste of CA and enhance its oral bioavailability.Dry suspensions were prepared by means of wet granulation method and solid dispersion method.Binders,suspending agents and other compositions involved in the formulation were optimized.The differential scanning calorimetry(DSC)analysis indicated that CA was amorphous in the solid dispersion with stearic acid as the carrier,which contributed to an improvement of the dissolution rate.Taste evaluation was performed by three volunteers and taste masking was successfully achieved by the methods mentioned above.A pH 7.0 phosphate buffer was adopted to study the in vitro dissolution performance of the three formulations,i.e.,two self-made dry suspensions and the commercial one.With a better release characteristic and a satisfying taste masking ability,the solid dispersion suspension was selected as the optimal formulation for the further pharmacokinetic study in beagle dogs.The values of Cmax and AUC0e12 for the solid dispersion suspension were about 1.78-fold and 2.17-fold higher than these of reference suspension,respectively.The obtained results demonstrated that the solid dispersion can efficiently mask the bitter taste of CA and significantly enhance its oral bioavailability.

Preparation and evaluation of taste masked oral suspension of arbidol hydrochloride

The purpose of this study was to cover the bitter taste of arbidol hydrochloride(ARB)and develop dry suspension with combination of solid dispersion and flavors.Taste masking was successfully done by solid dispersion using octadecanol as the carrier by fusion method.Suspending agents,carriers and other excipients were selected.Differential scanning calorimetry(DSC)and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy(FTIR)were performed to identify the physicochemical interaction between drug and carrier,DSC analysis indicated that ARB was amorphous in the solid dispersion,FTIR spectroscopy showed no interaction between drug and carrier.Taste masking was evaluated on six volunteers with a score of 4.9.The results demonstrated successful taste masking.Water was used to study the in vitro dissolution performance of the three formulations of commercial tablet,capsule and self-made suspension.The self-made suspension showed a lower and slower release,the insoluble carrier octadecanol blocked the drug dissolving from the solid dispersion.It was indicated from the primary stability study,the self-made suspensions were sensitive to high temperature,high humidity and strong light conditions,they should be stored in sealed containers away from heat,light and humidity.