INTRODUCTION:

Buccal films are a type of dosage form that uses a water-dispersible polymer to quickly hydrate, adhere, and dissolve when applied to the tongue or oral cavity, resulting in systemic drug delivery¹.

The most recent development in buccal administration is buccal films. In addition to being cost-effective and patient-friendly, they have also gained importance as effective and novel drug delivery systems. Since buccal films are intended for attachment to the buccal mucosa, they can be formulated to have local as well as systemic action.

The buccal film may be more flexible and comfortable than buccal tablets. Unlike tablets, buccal films are delivered directly to the systemic circulation through the internal jugular vein, without first-pass metabolism in the liver. Also, the large surface area of the buccal film allows quick wetting, which accelerates the absorption of the drug. The buccal mucosa has a high blood supply, making it an ideal site for drug absorption².

The ease of administration to pediatric and geriatric patients, as well as to patients who are mentally retarded, disabled, or uncooperative, increases the bioavailability of the dosage form by increasing its residence time at the site of absorption. However, the main limitation of buccal films is that high doses of medication cannot be incorporated. Buccal films can be formulated in such a way that the dissolution rates of drugs can range from minutes to hours.

Orally swallowed dosage forms have the following pitfalls^3,4.

· Absorption is slow, so there is a delayed onset of action.

· Not suitable for emergencies or patients who are unconscious.

· Having gastrointestinal disorders such as diarrhea, constipation, ulceration, and hyperacidity in the stomach makes it difficult for a patient to undergo this procedure.

· Often, the medication itself causes these problems, such as aspirin and many NSAIDs, which may cause ulcers in the stomach with repeated use over time.

· Patients suffering from malabsorption syndrome, in which absorption through the small intestine is not possible, should not undergo this procedure.

· insufficient for medications at risk of inactivation or destruction in the GI tract. For example, insulin is a protein. The protein in foods such as meat and fish is digested in the stomach when taken orally.

· It is not recommended for children or infants who are uncooperative.

· Chronic vomiting is not appropriate for patients.

Advantages of buccal dosage forms:

The buccal films have the following positives^5,6

· It is possible to achieve a rapid onset of the therapeutic effect not only because of the high blood supply of the area but also because there are no gastrointestinal (GI) factors that can delay absorption (gastric emptying, presence of food, gastric disease, etc.).

· Regarding the oral route, avoiding portal circulation can improve bioavailability by avoiding intestinal and first-pass hepatic metabolism.

· Due to the absence of exposure to the aggressive GI medium, some drugs can be administered buccally (e.g., peptides) that would otherwise be degraded by the gastric pH or enzymes.

The earlier attempts made on buccal films are illustrated in table 1.

Table 1: Previous work on buccal films

Drug	Polymer	Reference
Clotrimazole	Carbopol-934P and hydroxypropyl cellulose-M	⁷Khana et al., 1997
Propranolol HCl	HPC	⁸Raghuraman et al., 2002
Glipizide	HPMC and guar gum	⁹Chowdary et al., 2004
Ketorolac tromethamine	sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (Na-CMC), hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC), HPMC and Carbopol 934	¹⁰Alanazi et al., 2007
Giplizide	HPMC, Na-CMC, carbopol-934P and Eudragit RL-100	¹¹Semalty et al., 2008
Clotrimazole	Carbopol	¹²Singh et al., 2008
Nitrendipine	HPMC	¹³Nappinna et al., 2008
Atenolol	Sodium alginate	¹⁴Satishbabu et al., 2008
Losartan potassium	HPMC and ethyl cellulose	¹⁵Ubathande et al., 2009
Flufenamic acid	Chitosan	¹⁶Mura et at., 2010
Nicotine	HPMC	¹⁷Cilurzo et al., 2010
Enalapril maleate	NA CMC, HPMC, HEC and poly vinylpyrrolidone (PVP)	¹⁸Semalty et al., 2010
Tianeptine sodium	Lycoat NG73	¹⁹El-setouhy et al., 2010
Sertraline HCl	PVP, and carbopol	²⁰Mahajan et al., 2012
Ropinirole HCl	Pullulan	²¹Panchal et al., 2012
Diclofenac sodium	Sodium alginate and Pectin	²²Pandey et al., 2012
Norethindrone	NA CMC, HPMC, and PVP	²³Nautiya et al., 2013
Ivabradine HCl	HPMC	²⁴Lodhi et al., 2013
Valsartan	CP 934, HPMC and NA CMC	²⁵Roy et al., 2013
Ivabradine HCl	Carbopol and HPMC	²⁶Lodhi et al., 2013
Ondansetron HCl	HPMC	²⁷Kumria et al., 2013
Ranitidine	HPMC and PVP	²⁸Chandra et al., 2014
Dextromethorphan	HPMC	²⁹Sathavahana et al., 2014
Simvastatin	CMC and PVP	³⁰El-Maghraby et al.., 2015
Metformin HCl	Chitosan	³¹Haque et al., 2015
Selegiline	HPMC	³²Al-Dhubiab et al., 2016
Metoprolol	Succinate and PVP K-30	³³Verma et al., 2016
Dimenhydrinate	HEC and Xanthan gum	³⁴Yildiz et al., 2016
Rizatriptan benzoate	HPMC, polyvinyl alcohol, and polyethylene oxide	³⁵Salehi et al., 2017
Baclofen	Carbapol and PVP	³⁶Ali et al., 2017
Aceclofenac	HPMC Carbopol	³⁷Saha et al., 2017
Baclofen	HPMC	³⁸Ali et al., 2017
Risperidone	Carbopol and sodium alginate	³⁹Celik et al., 2017
Tizanidine HCl and Meloxicam	HPMC	⁴⁰Zaman et al., 2018
Benzdyamine HCl	HPMC	⁴¹Alam et al., 2018
Triamcinolone acetonide	Acetylated gellan gum and low esterified citrus pectin	⁴²Fernandes et al., 2018
Captopril	Acritamer 940, manugel, and hypromellose	⁴³Begum et al., 2019
Glimepiride	D-tocopherol and polyethylene glycol	⁴⁴Basahih et al., 2020

CONCLUSION:

The present study concludes that the buccal film is the most accurate and acceptable dosage form, which bypasses the hepatic first-pass effect and shows good bioavailability. This is the most promising and innovative technology, which is useful to all age groups, specifically pediatric, geriatric patients, and to patients with swallowing difficulties. Buccal films can replace the conventional dosage forms, including fast disintegrating tablets due to their advantages over the conventional dosage forms, and they can be manufactured at a low cost. This technology provides a good tool for the maintenance of drug therapeutic value, as well as pharmacoeconomic value.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS:

The authors thank the college management for their encouragement and support.

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Received on 24.11.2021 Modified on 29.12.2021

Res. J. Pharma. Dosage Forms and Tech.2022; 14(2):189-192.

DOI: 10.52711/0975-4377.2022.00030