Oral Strip Technology: A review

Abstract

Over the recent past, many of the research groups are focusing their research on this technology. Amongst Oral drug delivery system Oral Strip Technology (OST) is gaining much attention. The advantages of OST are the administration to pediatric and geriatric patient population where the difficulty of swallowing larger oral dosage forms is eliminated. This technology has been used for local action, rapid release products and for buccoadhesive systems that are retained in the oral cavity to release drug in controlled fashion. OST offers an alternate platform for molecules that undergo first pass metabolism and for delivery of peptides. An ideal OST should have the following properties: high stability, transportability, ease of handling and administration, no special packaging material and/or processing requirements, no water necessary for application, and a pleasant taste. All these requirement are fulfilled by the oral films. The OST is a good tool for product life cycle management for increasing the patent life of existing molecules or products. Compared to some of the complicated and expensive process (like lyophilization) used to manufacture ODTs(Orally Disintegrating Tablets), the OST is relatively easy to fabricate,thus reducing the overall cost of the therapy. One of the reasons is that the buccal mucosa is less permeable and is thus not able to elicit a rapid onset of absorption and hence better suited for formulations that are intended for sustained release action. Further, the buccal mucosa being relatively immobile mucosa and readily accessible, it makes it more advantageous for retentive systems used for oral trans mucosal drug delivery. The primary disadvantage associated with buccal delivery route is the low flux that in turn results in low drug bioavailability. To overcome this hurdle, various buccal penetration enhancers have been studied which improve the absorption pattern of the molecules. The article shows OST encompassing materials used in OST, method of preparation, evaluation, applications, commercial technologies and future Business prospects of this technology.