Development and evaluation of taste masked clarithromycin oral suspension

Most  of the pharmaceuticals  are  administered  by  the oral route which is the  popular  route  of  drug  delivery. Taste is an essential and critical parameter in administering formulations which have relation with taste buds. Several drugs have bitter taste, consequently there is  a consistent  problem in the treatment of  the  patients  because of their inability to swallow such formulations. Four formulations of taste masked granules of clarithromycin were thus prepared by wet granulation and enteric-coating techniques using different concentrations of taste masking agent and two coating materials. The resulting clarithromycin granules were characterized for size distribution, content determination, dissolution at phosphate buffer (pH 6.8), release in 0.1N HCl and taste evaluation. Among these formulations, Formulation D  showed minimum bitterness, better dissolution  profile at phosphate buffer at pH 6.8  and  higher  resistance  to  the  acidic medium comparing  to  other formulations. The formulation D presented showed to be a good base for preparing an oral reconstitutable suspension, which was evaluated for various parameters like drug content,   dissolution at phosphate buffer at pH 6.8 and taste evaluation. The oral taste masked suspension prepared disposed respectable decline in the sour taste of clarithromycin and similar dissolution profile in comparison with marketed  suspension.