Abstract
For oral medicines, the dosage form influences patient compliance and the resulting effectiveness. In recent years, dry syrups (DSs) have come to be used as a common dosage form for adult patients. In order to clarify the usefulness of DSs, comparative investigation between DS (n=1,196), 250 mg tablets (n=1,433) and 500 mg tablets (n=2,290) of L-Carbocisteine (MUCODYNEⓇ) was conducted in adult patients. Both 250 mg tablets and DS were evaluated as being easy to swallow by approximately 74% of patients, which was superior to that for the 500 mg tablets. It is of note that DS was evaluated as being easy to swallow by men or those aged 65 and over. Many patients responded that good taste was the reason why the DS was easy to swallow. For the 500 mg tablets, many patients (significantly more women than men) responded that the tablet size was large. In patients who agreed to take the 500 mg tablets in an ongoing manner, the rate of patients who responded that it was difficult to swallow was higher than that for the DS and the 250 mg tablets. In contrast, in patients who agreed to take the DS in an ongoing manner, the majority responded that it was easy to swallow.
The aforementioned results indicate that DS is very useful as a dosage form for adult patients. The results also revealed that convenience (including handling), influences the palatability of tablets.
