Formulation and Evaluation of Taste Masked Oral Disintegrating Tablets of Aripiprazole

Abstract

Aripiprazole is an atypical antipsychotic agent used for treatment of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and major depressive disorders. In the present work, oral  disintegrating tablets of aripiprazole were developed to  enhance the patient compliance and provide rapid onset of  action. The efficacy of aripiprazole is mediated through a combination of partial agonist activity at dopamine D2 and serotonin 5HT-1A receptors and antagonist activity at 5HT-2A receptors. It has a bitter taste and poor-solubility in water. Thus, the main objective of the study is to formulate taste masked oral disintegrating tablets of aripiprazole by using inclusion complex beta-cyclodextrin to achieve a better dissolution rate and further improving the bioavailability of the drug. Oral disintegrating tablets were   prepared by direct compression method using  super disintegrant like crospovidone, croscarmellose sodium,  sodium starch glycolate and combinations of  cros-povidone with croscarmellose sodium, and crospovidone with sodium  starch glycolate in different concentrations. They were evaluated for the pre-compression parameters such as bulk density, compressibility, Hausner ratio and angle of repose. The prepared batches of tablets were evaluated for hardness, weight variation, thickness, friability, drug content, disintegration time, wetting time,    in vitro dispersion time, and in vitro dissolution profile. All these parameters were found to be satisfactory. Among all, the formulation F15 containing crospovidone 5% + cros-povidone with croscarmellose sodium 5% was considered to be the optimum formulation, which released nearly 99% of the drug in 20 minutes with a disintegration time of 10. 20 seconds. These studies indicate the viability and benefits of oral disintegrating tablets of aripiprazole.