The oral route of drug administration is widely held as the most accepted and effective route due to the convenience of self-administration, easy manufacturing, and compactness. However, the most evident issue in the common oral dosage drug forms, such as capsules and tablets, is the difficulty in swallowing.It makes many patients non-compliant with the dosage, especially geriatric and pediatric patients. At the same time, it is applicable to all patients who are bedridden and the ones who are actively working and remain busy.This is where the Orodispersible Films (ODFs) come into the picture as an efficient method for drug delivery.
As mentioned before, the oral route happens to be the most preferred way to administer drugs as it ensures higher patient compliance. A common issue in all age groups is dysphagia (difficulty in swallowing). In fact, fifty percent of the population suffers from this problem. This difficulty can be attributed to the surface, size, and taste of the tablet in the case of Orodispersible. While traveling, water isn’t accessible easily and that adds to the difficulty.Recently, the US Pharmacopoeia, the British Pharmacopoeia, and the Centre for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) have approved the ODF terminology. As per the US FDA, ODFs are referred to as a type of solid dosage that contains medicinal substances that rapidly disintegrate and takes a few seconds to dissolve when placed over the tongue.According to European Pharmacopoeia, the term OD tablet refers to any kind of tablet that is put in the mouth to rapidly disperse without the need to swallow anything.
Ideally, an ODF should have the following properties:
Keeping all the factors in mind, an ideal ODF needs to meet the given criteria:
The ODFs have come a long way since their initial form, but they still have a lot of development left. The current focus is on making the ODFs more cost-effective and faster to dissolve in the mouth.
ZIM Labs is an innovative drug delivery solution provider focusing on improving patient convenience and adherence to drug intake. We offer a range of technology-based drug delivery solutions and non-infringing proprietary manufacturing processes for the production and supply of innovative and differentiated generic pharmaceutical products to our customers globally. At ZIM Labs we provide our customers a comprehensive range of value-added solid dosage differentiated generic products in semi-finished and finished categories/formulations. These include granules, pellets (sustained, modified, extended-release), taste-masked powders, suspensions, tablets, capsules, and recently developed Oral Thin Films (OTF).