ANTIMICROBIAL LIQUID FORMULATIONS - A BLIND TASTE COMPARISON OF 3 BRANDS OF PENICILLIN VK AND 3 BRANDS OF AMOXICILLIN

OBJECTIVE: To rate the perception of taste, texture, smell and afterta ste of various brands of penicillin VK and amoxicillin. DESIGN: Oral, Liquid formulations of three brands of penicillin VK (PenVee K, V-Cill in-K, VeeTids) and three brands of amoxicillin (Amoxil, Trimox, Wymox) were evaluated for smell, texture, taste, and aftertaste by 30 volunt eers in a blind study. Each category was scored on a scale of 1 to 5. The order in which the drugs were sampled was randomized for the first three groups of five participants. The order then was reversed for th e remaining three groups of participants. SETTING: A 537-bed US Army t eaching hospital. PARTICIPANTS: Participants included 30 healthy adult volunteers from the Departments of Pediatrics, Nursing, and Pharmacy. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Drugs received cumulative scores in each categ ory, as well as an overall total score ranking. The data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA for repeated measures with a post hoc Duncan's mu ltiple range test to determine significant differences between individ ual means. RESULTS: Overall, Trimox and Amoxil scored significantly hi gher than the remaining drugs. Although V-Cillin-K scored highest in t he smell category, its score was significantly below those of Trimox a nd Amoxil in the texture, taste, aftertaste, and overall categories. O verall, the three penicillin VK solutions scored lower than the three amoxicillin suspensions, with PenVee K ranking the lowest. Among the p enicillin VK solutions, V-Cillin-K scored significantly higher overall than the other two penicillin VK solutions. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, all three amoxicillin oral, liquid suspensions that were studied scored s ignificantly better than the three penicillin VK solutions.