Acta Pharm. 69 (2019) 155-176

full paper

Review

How to assess orodispersible film quality? A review of applied methods and their modifications

KATARZYNA WASILEWSKA and KATARZYNA WINNICKA

katarzyna.winnicka@umb.edu.pl

Department of Pharmaceutical Technology, Medical University of Bialystok, Bialystok 15-089, Poland

Accepted November 16, 2018

Published online December 17, 2018

In recent years, there has been a tendency toward creating innovative, easy to use and patient-friendly drug delivery systems suitable for every consumer profile, which would ensure safety, stability and acceptability of a drug. One of the relatively novel and promising approaches is the manufacture of orodispersible films (ODFs), which is an upcoming area of interest in drug delivery. They are defined as polymer thin films that disintegrate in the oral cavity within seconds, without drinking water or chewing, and eliminate the risk of choking. Gaining special usefulness in therapies of children and the elderly, ODFs seem to fill the gap in the range of preparations available for these groups of patients. As no detailed monography of ODFs including testing methods and uniform requirements has been presented in any of the pharmacopoeias to date, the aim of this article is to give an overview of the applied testing methods, their modifications and innovative approaches related to ODF quality assessment.

Keywords: orodispersible film, quality assessment, ODF testing methods, mechanical properties, disintegration time