Chewing Gum as a Drug Delivery System for Nystatin Influence of Solubilising Agents Upon the Release of Water Insoluble Drugs

Abstract

Nystatin is an antifungal drug with a poor solubility in water and saliva. Consequently, only a small amount of the drug was released from nystatin chewing gum during testing on a mastication device. The addition of solubilising agents to chewing gum increased the release of nystatin by a factor of 50–70, whereas the agents only increased the solubility of nystatin by a factor of 3–7. The solubilising agents were Cremophor® RH 40, Tween® 60 (non-ionic surfactants) and Panodan® AB 90 (an-ionic surfactant). There was no linear relationship between the amount of nystatin in chewing gum and the release. A method to estimate the content of nystatin in chewing gum was developed.