EFFERVESCENT TABLET

The technology of effervescent tablets has been widely used for years for the oral administration of drugs.

SMB and GALEPHAR have acquired a large experience of this type of formulation for more than 35 years in the treatment of pain, fever and colds.

Main advantages of S.M.B.’s effervescent tablet :

• Very rapid onset of action : the active ingredient is already solubilized before its administration.
  This is of particular importance in the treatment of pain where the patient requires rapid relief.
• Reduce local side effects.
• Less excipient than competitors with the same dissolution time.
• Easy administration.
• Possiblity of taste adjustement.

Brief description of the process

The effervescent tablet is a tablet which is very rapidly desintegrated in solution, when it comes into contact with water. A condition for formulating effervescent tablets is that the active ingredient must have a sufficient solubility in water to allow rapid dissolution before administration.

An effervescent tablet always contains a mixture of sodium hydrogenocarbonate and anhydrous citric acid. In contact with water, this mixture will generate a gas, carbon dioxide. This gas will then be responsible of the fast disintegration of the tablet in water (typically less than 5 minutes).

The effervescent tablets may be manufactured using either direct compression technology or wet granulation technology. In all cases, the excipients used must be anhydrous.