Bitter-blockers as a taste masking strategy: A systematic review towards their utility in pharmaceuticals

Acceptable palatability of an oral dosage form is crucial to patient compliance. Excipients can be utilised within a formulation to mask the bitterness of a drug. One such category is the bitter-blockers. This term is used inconsistently within the literature and has historically been used to describe any additive which alters the taste of an unpleasant compound. This review defines a bitter-blocker as a compound which interacts with the molecular pathway of bitterness at a taste-cell level and compiles data obtained from publication screening of such compounds. Here, a novel scoring system is created to assess their potential utility in a medicinal product using factors such as usability, safety, efficacy and quality of evidence to understand their taste-masking ability. Sodium acetate, sodium gluconate and adenosine 5 ' monophophate each have a good usability and safety profile and are generally regarded as safe and have shown evidence of bitter-blocking in human sensory panels. These compounds could offer a much needed option to taste-mask particularly aversive medicines where traditional methods alone are insufficient.

Automated summary

The palatability of an oral dosage form is crucial for patient compliance, and excipients can be used to mask the bitterness of a drug. Bitter-blockers are compounds that interact with the molecular pathway of bitterness at a taste-cell level. Some compounds, such as sodium acetate and adenosine 5 ' monophophate, have shown evidence of bitter-blocking and could provide an option for taste-masking aversive medicines.