clarithromycin

Clarithromycin is a bitter macrolide antibiotic, marketed as a dry syrup formulation (clarithromycin dry syrup, CAMD). A review of sensory evaluation methods for pharmaceuticals states that with physical coating processing, the bitterness intensity of CAMD is estimated to be reduced to approximately 1% of that of a powder suspension at the same concentration, and that approximately 99% of the bitterness was masked, as confirmed by both human sensory evaluation and taste-sensor prediction. However, the prior study cited by this review (reference 35) itself has not been independently confirmed.

Clarithromycin (CLM) microcapsules were prepared using an emulsion solvent-diffusion method with ethylcellulose as the base material, then formulated as a dry suspension. In a 3-step sensory evaluation (no bitterness / slightly bitter / bitter) conducted by 9 healthy volunteers, bitterness was reported to be sufficiently alleviated compared to the commercial CLM dry suspension. The bitterness threshold was determined at the point where half of the volunteers responded 「苦い」 (bitter) or 「やや苦い」 (slightly bitter).