Taste-masking of efavirenz through microencapsulation

Abstract

It is a well-known fact that a significant gap exists in the development of child-friendly dosage forms, detrimentally affecting paediatric patient compliance, especially in the treatment of debilitating diseases such as human-immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. Although not recommended as first-line treatment, efavirenz (EFV) still forms part of the South African Department of Health’s treatment regimen for HIV-infected children. EFV is however an extremely bitter-tasting drug, known to cause “burning-mouth” syndrome and therefore paediatric patient compliance related to EFV dosage forms has generally proven low partly due to poor palatability. A multitude of taste-masking strategies may be applied in an effort to alleviate this factor. One of these strategies, which is well-known and more widely applied in food sciences than in pharmaceutical sciences, is that of compound microencapsulation through spray-drying and ionic gelation. In this study the potential of utilizing EFV-loaded microcapsules obtained via spray-drying and EFV-loaded calcium-alginate beads obtained via ionic gelation as possible taste-masking strategies were investigated.