SENSORY ANALYSIS OF LIQUID ORAL DOSAGE FORMS ANTACID SUSPENSIONS

Sensory analysis of pharmaceutical oral dosage forms can be used effec tively in product development and quality control to improve patient a cceptance of the drug. In this work, sensory analysis is applied to de tect consumer preference for formulations. of aluminum and magnesium h ydroxide antacid suspensions. A ranking test was applied to six pepper mint flavored commercial samples (identified from A to F) of the antac id with the same therapeutical potency. The samples corresponded to fo ur different formulations and six batches from three manufacturers. Th e ranking test was applied in duplicate to ten judges (ages 20-34) tra ined in the method and in the main sensory characteristics of the prod uct. The coded samples were presented randomly in duplicate to each ju dge with six replications, and results were recorded in a preference s cale from 1 to 6 (1 = most preferred). Statistical analysis of the dat a considered the sample as the only cause for variation and the minimu m significant difference was determined at confidence levels of alpha = 0.01 and alpha = 0.05. The results show a highly significant prefere nce (alpha = 0.01) in sample F over A, B, D and E. At alpha = 0.05, sa mple F was preferred over all the others, whereas formulations A and D were the least preferred at both significance levels. These results d emonstrate that sensory analysis can be applied succesfully in product selection for the patient, formulation development and as a quality c ontrol tool in antacid suspensions.