# Film Coating of Small Molded Tablets for Pediatric Formulations with Rapid Disintegration and Bitterness-Masking Properties

## TL;DR

This paper introduces small, film-coated tablets that quickly disintegrate and mask bitter taste, making them easier for children to take and suitable for tube feeding.

## Contribution

The study introduces a novel film-coating method for small tablets that effectively masks bitterness and enables rapid disintegration.

## Key findings

- Film-coated tablets of 5 and 3 mm size disintegrated within 30 seconds.
- The film coating effectively masked the bitterness of dextromethorphan hydrobromide for at least 10 seconds.
- The coating covered the tablet periphery, contributing to bitterness masking.

## Abstract

The bitter taste of drugs is an important impediment to medication adherence for pediatric patients. To develop a formulation that can be easily taken by pediatric patients, we prepared film-coated molded tablets to mask their bitterness and investigated their properties. We manufactured 5 and 3 mm film-coated tablets, which were easy for children to swallow. The tablets also exhibited rapid disintegration (≤30 s), making them suitable for tube administration. The formulation of the film-coating layer was experimentally optimized. Tablets (measuring 5 and 3 mm thick) containing the model drug dextromethorphan hydrobromide were film-coated by weight of the uncoated tablets (4% by weight). These tablets rapidly disintegrated and masked the bitterness for 10 s. An examination of the coated tablets revealed that the film covered the periphery, which may mask the bitterness. The findings demonstrate that coating small molded tablets with a film enables the manufacture of tablets that could be more tolerable for pediatric patients and suitable for tube administration.