Formulation and Evaluation of Medicated Chewing Gum containing Tulsi and Liquorice for Sore Throat

Abstract

The increased preference for natural therapeutics and patient friendly dosage forms has speeded up the formulating design of novel herbal drug delivery systems. The present study, therefore, focused on the development and evaluation of herbal medicated chewing gum (MCG) incorporated with Tulsi (Ocimum sanctum), Liquorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra) and mastic for effective amelioration of sore throat and oral discomfort. Many researchers have developed new formulations and technologies through oral drug delivery systems. Such researches exhibit importance of oral route amongst patients. The selected herbal ingredients have a strong antimicrobial, antiinflammatory, and soothing effect creating a synergized therapeutic action. To evaluate the effect of mastic gum, beeswax and glycerol on important quality attributes, a set of different concentration formulations (F1–F5) were prepared in this study. The formulations were analyzed for various physicochemical and organoleptic parameters such as appearance, weight variation, hardness, moisture content, chewability, friability and taste acceptability. Results demonstrated formulation parameters have a considerable effect on the product’s efficiency. F3 was identified as the aptly optimized formulation, exhibiting optimal hardness, outstanding chewability (with less than 1% friability), appropriate moisture content, and good palatability. Also, the formulation showed enhanced therapeutic effect due to synergestic action of tulsi, liquorice and mastic gum. This medicated chewing gum is identified as a patient-compliant oral drug delivery system with sustained and prolong therapeutic effect which can improve the acceptability for its use in the throat-related disorders֙management.