The Faculty of Pharmacy discussed the Master’s Degree thesis, Formulation and in-vitro evaluation of taste masked prednisolone as pediatric oral solid dosage form” by Hiba Mohammed Suza Ali and the supervisor, Assist. Prof. Eman B.H. Al-khedairy in the Pharmaceutics Department. Prednisolone is a corticosteroid (synthetic glucocorticoid) act as immune- suppressant and anti- inflammatory drug for different age groups; it has very bitter taste which affects patient compliance especially for children. The present study aimed to mask the bitter taste of the Prednisolone to be formulated as pediatric orodispersible tablets Two different methods were used in this study; adsorption method using Veegum® and Bentonite as adsorbents at different concentration and external ionic gelation methods using sodium alginate as primary polymer alone or in presence of hydrophilic polymers .The product with best taste masking was formulated as orodispersible tablets using suitable additives. The results showed the superiority of external ionic gelation method as taste masking method using Sodium Alginate (0.5% w/v) in combination with carbopol in a ratio of 1:1:1 ratio (Prednisolone: Sodium Alginate: Carbopol 940) since only 0.77 % of the dose was released in simulated media of the oral cavity within one minute. The orodispersible tablets prepared by direct compression method showed acceptable physical properties with disintegration time of 15.3 seconds with good taste masking as only 75% of Prednisolone was released in simulated media of the oral cavity within one minute, while its release in stomach (0.1N HCl) and intestine (pH 6.8) was continued up to two hours. The tablets were stable at storage temperatures (room temperature and 50oC) for two months.It can be concluded that oral preparation of Prednisolone with an acceptable taste is possible by using external ionic gelation technique
