Chewing Gum Products Research Articles

The MediChew® technology platform

A few decades ago, chewing gum was rarely considered when industry searched for an applicable delivery vehicle for an active pharmaceutical substance. Yet, the 1980s and 1990s saw gum become the most successful nicotine delivery form; unawareness changed to cautious scepticism, and today the merits of chewing gum drug delivery technologies are generally appreciated. MediChew® is the registered trademark of Fertin Pharma’s medical chewing gum technology platform. Based on patent-protected technologies, it offers unique taste-masking possibilities and allows control of drug molecule release. Medical chewing gum products based on these technologies are specifically suitable for convenient administration on demand, for active substances providing a topical effect in the oral cavity and throat, and for systemic delivery of drug molecules that readily cross the oromucosal membranes.

Development and evaluation of a novel dissolution apparatus for medicated chewing gum products.

A novel dissolution apparatus was developed for medicated chewing gum products. A prototype gum product containing phenylpropanolamine hydrochloride (PPA) was used to evaluate the apparatus. The apparatus consists of a conical Teflon base and a rotating, ribbed Teflon plunger suspended in a dissolution vessel. Parameters evaluated were rotation speed, plunger frequency, medium volume, medium type, medium sampling location, number of plunger ribs, and number of gum pieces. Samples were taken over a 20-min period and samples were analyzed by HPLC. Cumulative percentage released-versus-time profiles were obtained for each parameter evaluated. Statistical analysis of the gum product indicated that the only significant differences occurred at the lowest rotation speed and lowest plunger frequencies. A Level A correlation was found between the in vitro release profile for the 20-rpm and 30-cycles/min plunger frequency and the in vivo chew-out study.