Effervescent Tablets

The oral dosage forms are the most popular way of taking medication despite having some disadvantages like slow absorption and thus onset of action is prolong. This can be overcome by administrating the drug in liquid from but, many APIs have limited level of stability in liquid form. So, effervescent tablets acts as an alternative dosage form. The tablet is added into a glass of water just before administration and the drug solution or dispersion is to be drunk immediately. The tablet is quickly broken apart by
internal liberation of CO2 in water due to interaction between tartaric acid and citric acid with alkali metal carbonates or bicarbonates in presence of water.

Due to liberation in CO2 gas, the dissolution of API in water as well as taste masking effect is enhanced. The

advantages of effervescent tablets compared with other oral dosage forms includes an opportunity for formulator to improve taste, a more gentle action on patient’s stomach and marketing aspects. To manufacture these tablets, either wet fusion or heat fusion is adopted. The tablets are compressed soft

enough to produce an effervescent reaction that is adequately rapid. Water soluble lubricants are used to prevent an insoluble scum formation on water surface. To add sweetness to the formulation, saccharin is added since sucrose is hygroscopic and add too much of bulk to the tablet. The manufacturing shall

be done under controlled climatic condition to avoid effervescent reaction. The packaging is done under 25% RH at 25ºC. Hands of the consumers and atmospheric moisture after opening the container can also result in loss of product quality. The most commonly used effervescent tablet today is aspirin tablet.