Specialized tablets: Ancient history to modern developments

Abstract

With the enhancement of technology and understanding of solid-state pharmaceutics, the art of tablet formulation has been exhibiting a shift toward specialized tablets. For example, specialized tablets may be formulated to target a particular region of gastrointestinal tract in order to avoid off-target side effects. For decades, the diseases treated by conventional tablet dosage form had the limitation of fluctuating drug level in blood, troublesome side effects, and unsuitable physicochemical properties of drug, that is, poor absorption, less solubility, first-pass metabolism, narrow therapeutic index. Specialized tablets are introduced to overcome the above drawbacks associated with conventional tablets. The basic idea behind the specialized tablet is to improve the bioavailability of active moiety by targeting the sites of organ or tissues or by using the novel drug-delivery techniques eliciting specific mechanisms. The primary objectives of the specialized tablet are to ensure safety and increase the efficacy of active pharmaceutical ingredients with increased patient compliance. The specialized tablets should have more advantage over conventional dosage forms by optimizing biopharmaceutical, pharmacokinetic, and pharmacodynamic properties of drugs in such a way that it reduces dosing frequency to an extent that one daily dose is sufficient for therapeutic efficiency. The aim of this chapter is to discuss the ancient history to modern developments of specialized tablets. © 2019 Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved..