BUCCAL DRUG DELIVERY SYSTEM: AN OVERVIEW ABOUT DOSAGE FORMS AND RECENT STUDIES

Management of illness through medication is entering a new era in which growing number of novel drug delivery systems are being employed and are available for therapeutic use. Pharmaceutical research and development is currently focused on the development of drug delivery systems to target a drug to the desired organ or site with the aim of minimizing its overall distribution in the body. The oral mucosa has many properties which make it an attractive site for drug delivery but simultaneously provide several problems for researchers for effective and efficient delivery of therapeutic active agents. However, with the development of novel delivery techniques overcome several challenges. Oral mucosa delivery has many advantages like high blood flow, rapid recovery, prevention of hepatic first-pass effect and pre-systemic elimation in gastrointestinal tract. On the other hand relatively small surface area and significant loss of drug due to swallowing and salivary flow are main limitations of buccal delivery. Different formulations including sprays, tablets, mouthwashes, gels, pastes and patches are presently used for delivery into and/or across the oral mucosa. Over the last 20 years, a wide range of formulations has been developed for buccal drug delivery systems but unfortunately few have been accomplished to be a medicine. One of the main reasons of this unsuccessful result could be the lack of the standardized methods which evaluate in vitro performance of buccal dosage forms. Thus aim of this review, to discuss the potential of buccal drug delivery and buccal dosage forms and also explore recent studies and in vitro analyses methodology of buccal dosage forms.